One Last Long Run

The last long run I'm referring to is my final 20 mile run before Columbus. And it so happened to have occurred on the day after the Akron Half. That's right, 15 miles on Saturday and 20 miles on Sunday! It wasn't until about yesterday that I realized I took care of my birthday run split between the two days last weekend.

After talking about a Sunday long run at the Legends get together, Ladd decided to join me. It would be his final long run going into this weekend's 24 Hour Run at Edgewater. I was originally thinking of running trails in Hinckley, but chose the Towpath instead for it's combination of flatness and crushed surface.

We were able to start around 8:00 in the morning when it was not only cool but incredibly humid from the rain we had Saturday and overnight. In fact the humidity was near 100%, making breathing a little tough. It also caused me to start sweating buckets eventually. Fortunately I came equipped with the maximum amount of fluids I could carry.

We had a nice relaxing run, seeing various wildlife including a Great Blue Heron and a deer that scared the crap out of us because we didn't see her until she was right next to us. We also met up and ran with a fellow named Matt from Solon who was also doing his final long run in preparation for Columbus. He started from a different parking lot so we parted ways when it was time for us to turn around at 10 miles. Running from Peninsula, we made it all the way to Pleasant Valley Road before we hit our turnaround point.

I felt pretty good. My knee wasn't giving me any problems at all and I wasn't experiencing any fatigue from the hard 10 miles the day before. I probably should have taken another sports drink concoction to try out, but I'll do that tonight at the track. It's cold and windy and sometimes rainy. Not my favorite weather to do speed work in, but we run in what we get.

2009 Road Runner Akron Half Marathon

Saturday morning came early. 3:30 AM early! Akron has a 7:00 start and you need to arrive early enough to find a decent place to park, so we were up proportionately early. The weather people had been calling for rain that morning, but to our surprise it held off for most of the race. What we ended up with was cloudy skies, a gusty wind out of the south, and temps in the upper 50's to low 60's. Just great to run in!

I was not planning on doing either event this year as I'm training for Columbus, but I was able to run in Joe's place as he messed up his knee this last week during a training run. My training schedule called for a 10 mile pace run on Saturday so that's what I wanted to do during the race: a 3 mile warm-up and a 10 mile pace run.

I started out with Frank, as we lost the rest of the group in the crowd before the start. We caught up to them within the first mile and a half and had a nice little group within the larger mass of people. Ladd and Rachel were pacing Jeannine in her first marathon and Frank was running the first three miles before heading out to his relay position later in the race. It was a tight bunch of people as we made our way through the northern loop and back across the Y-bridge. I prepared to shift gears as the 3 mile mark approached coming back through downtown Akron. I also twinged a muscle in my lower back as I got tripped up on a traffic cone in the road that I didn't see coming.

                                     

The MCRR gang before the start.

Having said my good-byes and wished everyone luck, it was time to speed up. We had been averaging 9:15 miles and I needed 7:26 or below. The crowd was still very thick and I needed to carefully make my way forward, dodging around people left and right. As luck would have it, I would miss the mile 4 marker, so I had no idea what my pace was. Mile 5 brought me a 14:40 split, but I didn't know if the miles were evenly paced or one was faster than the other. I wouldn't have a good idea of my pace until mile 6, which turned out to be a 7:20. Turns out, that's where I wanted to be.

Miles 7 and 8 were both around 7:30 but mile 9 went sub-7:00 at 6:59. It was nice to turn out a quicker mile and not get too tired. Of course, we were heading downhill, but that's the best time to try to make up some time. Mile 10 was 7:09 but mile 11 was back under 7:00. And I felt really good running that too. I could feel a tugging behind my kneecap, but it wasn't hurting so I kept up the pace. Mile 11 was the steep downhill into the valley. I held back and descended carefully but could have gone much faster on that stretch had it been race day.

I was now approaching unfamiliar territory. The end of the half marathon course had been changed from previous years and I didn't know what to expect other than an uphill section. But what an uphill it was! I'd say it was a 1/2 to 3/4 mile climb back out to the top along the crushed surface of the Towpath. I thought it was tough but enjoyed the workout as well. My split for mile 12 was 7:41, which isn't far off of my pace considering the difficulty of the hill. I was actually pleased when I got the split at the top. For the final mile, I don't remember picking up the pace too much, but my split for mile 13 was 6:23. Pretty darn fast for the end of a half marathon.

My final time was 1:40:30. Not a PR, but not a PW (personal worst) either. And I wasn't racing it anyway, just sticking to my plan to use it as a training run. I felt good after finishing and shortly left to go back out and look for Mrs. P. I found her about 3/4 mile from the finish, and she wasn't in good shape either. Her hamstring was cramped and she was trying to power through it to a new half marathon PR. She was WAY ahead of her pace from Rite Aid in May but quickly slowing due to the cramp. I ran with her and tried to get her mind in a better place: focussing on finishing and not on the pain. She was hurting but kept moving. She ended up finishing with a two minute PR. Not an easy thing to do on that course.

After the last of our half marathon troop finished, we headed for home. But it wasn't until that afternoon and evening that we began discovering how many people we knew were sick. Vomiting sick. Either during the race or afterward. Mrs. P. began feeling really bad later in the evening. I felt fine, but about half of the people in the group photo above came down with some type of gastro-intestinal issues. Somehow I was not one of them. We discussed possible sources and the only thing we could come up with was the water on the course. I drank at every aid station, but I had Power Aid at every one except for two: The aid station just after mile 8 and the very next one. They use water from fire hydrants for this race and are supposed to flush them in advance. I don't know if that was it, but it seems like the only common link involved. I'll update as more information becomes available.

A few of the MCRR club members at Legends Saturday night for a celebratory dinner and a drink or two!

Congratulations to all those who finished, particularly first time marathoners Roseanne, Janet, Jeannine, and Debbie! And to those who started but ran into enough troubles to cause their days to be shorter than hoped for. It happens.

Testing the Knee

Well, the test run Monday night went fine. I ran three miles at about 8:00 pace. Mile one was slow, mile two was the quickest, and mile three was a cool-down. I felt the knee twinge a little in that first mile but it seemed to settle down after that. Because of my positive result I decided to head into last night's speedwork with some gusto.

Unfortunately, just about everyone there was tapering heading into Saturday's Akron Marathon or Half Marathon. But did that stop us from pushing too hard? Heck no! Alternating 200's and 400's were on tap after a nearly 2 mile warm-up. Splits were: 39.9 / 1:26 / 38.7 / 1:27 / 35.9 / 1:22 / 39.2. I was huffing and puffing pretty hard after some of those reps.

But as I was hoping to run a bit more than that I added on a pair of 800's, clocking in at 3:07 and 2:58. And if that weren't enough, I finished it all off with a 7:00 mile. That last one felt really good. Most of the bug storm was gone by then, and although I was still dripping buckets of sweat due to the humidity, I finished strong and injury free. I'm hoping the injury free part sticks around for a while.

Now I need to decide whether or not to run the Akron Half Marathon Saturday morning. Joe's knee is bothering him pretty bad and he's decided not to run even though he's registered and paid in full. So I have the chance to run with his number if I want. I had a 10 mile pace run planned for later on Saturday anyway, so I could start out with a 3 mile warm-up and bump my times down to 7:15-ish for the rest of the race. I'm leaning towards running it, just not completely sure yet.

An Easy Weekend

After running Erie hard last weekend, this weekend was supposed to be a little easier. Not quite time to taper, just running a little less. An "off" week. The plan was to run 6 easy on Saturday and 12 easy on Sunday. Saturday's run was going well, until about nearly the 6 mile mark. Running back down Huntington I missed seeing a drop in the sidewalk and hit it wrong on my left leg. You know, when you "know" your foot should be landing on something, but instead it keeps going! Well it jarred pretty hard, but I was able to keep running on it just fine. The pain in my knee didn't start until another 200 meters or so down the road. It was bad. Fortunately I was approaching an intersection with a light and I got to stop. It wasn't the knee pain I used to get, but painfully similar. I was able to run home OK, but it felt weak the rest of the day and it's still popping whenever I bend it.

Sunday I cancelled my running plans in the hopes of getting a little extra rest before this final big week of training. This week is the last push before my taper starts for Columbus. Now that I think about it, it is a three week taper. I could push everything back one week if I needed to and just do a two week taper. I'm going to have to consider that if tonight's test run doesn't go well.

MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

2010

That's right. I will be competing in next year's Ford Ironman Wisconsin. I was able to claim my spot on Monday shortly after online registration opened. The race is now full. 2500 people full. And I will be one of them. I'm going to finish out my running season this fall, but as soon as the Bobcat Trail Marathon is over, all my focus will be on training for three events: 2.4 mile swim / 112 mile bike / 26.2 mile run. 140.6! I did half that in August and felt great doing it. Hopefully this one will go just as well. I anticipate doing many other races along the way next year, but the countdown clock will only be set upon one event: Ironman!

Post Marathon Recovery Run

Recovery run? Yeah, right! I was hoping for just a couple-three easy miles but ended up being talked into mile repeats by Connie. After a nearly two and a half mile warm-up (during which I actually felt pretty good), we started. Mile one was around 7:00 or so. I don't know for sure because I hit the buttons in the wrong order on the GPS and it got all messed up. I didn't feel bad during that first mile. I was able to keep the pace, which left me pleasantly surprised.

The pack took off again with only a 200 meter recovery, which I forgot about and missed because I was talking with Dan, who was doing his own set of 800's. So I began my second rep half a lap behind everyone else. I was able to close the gap a little, but I never caught them. Just maintaining an even distance behind them was all I could muster.

Another short recovery and we were off again. With one important difference: There was nothing left in my legs. They just wouldn't do what I wanted them to do. Post-race exhaustion raised it's ugly head and won. I finished the mile, but at a very slow pace. Cool-down pace. And then I was done. Six miles in just under 50 minutes was the total. I wouldn't even call it a speed workout.

I should rest tonight but we're hitting the trails instead. You can bet I'm just going to take things easy though.

2009 Erie Marathon

The week leading up to Sunday's Erie Marathon at Presque Isle was fairly interesting. As far as running goes anyway. With the 20 mile Blue Line run on Saturday completed, it was time for a one week taper leading into the marathon. I still wasn't sure how hard I wanted to run the race, which made me unsure just how much to cut back on training. During Tuesday's speed work session I cut back on the number of 800 repeats but I didn't skimp on the pace. Starting at 3:15, I sped up till my last repeat saw a time of 2:45. That's pretty darn fast for me.

My mini-taper saw me skip a few days as I was trying to get things done around the house. (I won't even get into having to replace the hot water tank on Thursday). I was able to get out for an easy three miles Saturday morning after an unexpected rain shower went through. I didn't feel great and was really worried about maintaining 7:30 miles on Sunday. So I put off making the decision a little while longer.

We stopped at Ferrante Winery for lunch on the way to Erie. The wine was great and so was the food. After that it was just a short drive across the PA border and into Erie. We made our way to the park and picked up our race packets. After that it was time to check in at our hotel and make dinner plans. We ended up at The Brewerie in downtown Erie. It was located in the old Union Station train station. The food was good but we've had much better beer. Unfortunately, beer is what makes a brewery, not the food, and I wouldn't return for a second visit.

I had a hard time sleeping so I found myself watching the entire USC/OSU game. I thought we were going to win that one... After about three hours of sleep I was up and getting ready to run, still not knowing what I was going to do: run comfortable and enjoy myself, or run hard and attempt to qualify for Boston. As it turns out, I wasn't going to make that decision until a couple miles into the run!

The marathon and half marathon started together promptly at 7:00, nice and early. Although temperatures were around 60 degrees, there was enough humidity in the air to make it feel warmer. And warm is exactly what things began to get once the sun was up. As for the start, I don't think that I'm starting too far back, but there sure do seem to be an awful lot of people I have to pass in the first mile or two. Once I was free to run my race without having to make awkward passes around people, I noticed that my pace was just shy of my goal race pace. That's when I decided I would go for it. Everything was prepared for an attempt: gels, fluids, and finally me, mentally.

The course was two loops around the Presque Isle State Park which is a peninsula which sticks out into Lake Erie. We ran on the parkway which was mostly tree lined and shaded. But that also meant not much of a breeze. We had sun on the south side but managed to pick up a little of the lake breeze along sections on the north side. Regardless, I was sweating. A lot! Fluids would be important today. The sports drink of choice for the race was HEED, which I'm not a big fan of, so I planned ahead by mixing 8 bottles of Gatorade Endurance for my Fuelbelt. As a multiple loop course, I would be able to swap out empty bottles for full when I passed Mrs. and Jr. P.

Here I am at the half-way point preparing to trade three empties for three fulls.

I felt pretty good through the first 21 miles, maintaining a pace about 30 seconds behind my goal time. I alternated between Gatorade and water with gel at the aid stations, which were awesome to have every mile. I needed the Gatorade because of the extra sodium and the gels for the concentrated calories and caffeine. While I made if farther than at Rite Aid before experiencing problems, the problems, they did arise. The cramping began in my toes, moved to my calves, and then eventually on to my interior quads. I slowed with each wave of cramping and was able to run my way through them. With four miles left I accepted the fact that I wasn't going to qualify for Boston that day, but if I maintained my pace without getting any worse, I would certainly set a new PR. To hit 3:15 I would need to run four 7:15 miles while I was cramping and that just wasn't going to happen. What I was able to do was piece together four just over 8:30 miles and finish with a 2:00 PR, 3:20:39!

My race splits were: 8:05 / 7:30 / 7:32 / 7:32 / 7:37 / 7:13 / 7:12 / 7:24 / 7:22 / 7:23 / 7:20 / 7:22 / 7:19 / 7:21 / 7:28 / 7:28 / 7:39 / 7:20 / 7:44 / 7:28 / 7:49 / 8:02 / 7:55 / 8:25 / 8:43 / 8:49 / and 1:26 for the final .2 miles. Like I said, I was trailing goal pace by a very consistent 30 seconds at every mile. At one point, mile 19 I think, I was right on goal pace to the second! There was enough slop built into my pacing schedule to get me to the line with some time to spare. But alas, it wasn't to be.

Oh well, this wasn't supposed to be the qualifying race anyway. That has always been planned for Columbus. I just needed to come through without injuring myself and maybe learn some things for the future. Well, I didn't injure myself and I learned that I'm going to have to figure out how to prevent the cramping. How? I don't know yet.

Almost to the finish!

As far as stats go, I finished 6th of 22 in my age group and 42nd of 484 total finishers. Not too bad! That's all for now, but stay tuned for a MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT in the very near future. Bigger things are in the works for next year!

Blue Line Run and Being Chased by a Bear

Well, not in that order.

And not together either.

And it wasn't a bear, per se.

Nor, a wild animal at all really.

And calling it being chased is sort of misleading as well.

But in my mind I was being chased by a big ole hungry bear. Or maybe a wolf. Or something else with big nasty teeth. What I'm referring to is my solo trail run in Reagan Park last Wednesday evening. The running club was meeting for a group trail run Thursday that Mrs. P was interested in attending, so I decided to head out on my own a day earlier so she could run with the group. The weather was great and everyone was out that night. Especially the mountain bikers. There were a few groups out as well as solo riders. The largest group numbered 8 to 10 riders. It was that group I was running from, or racing against, should you choose to look at it that way.

The trail loops in the park are narrow and for the most part, one way. So I can hear when a rider is approaching from behind. They tend to make a lot of noise. Some of the trails even switch back on themselves so you can see who's coming up on you. I was on one of those trails when I heard and then saw the riders coming. I didn't know exactly how far I had to go to reach the end of the trail, but I knew I wasn't more than a mile. So I picked up the pace. I was running that trail as hard as I could. My ears would hear guys yelling to each other, but my mind translated that into animal snarls that wouldn't let me ease up. By the time I reached the end of the trail I was completely out of breath and drenched in sweat. But I reached the end ahead of them!

I continued running that night, logging 10 miles of trails and averaging 9:34 per mile. That's amazing for me considering the technical difficulty of those trails.

Saturday morning brought with it the annual Blue Line run on the Akron Marathon course, sponsored by Vertical Runner. I did this run last year where I met some runners I've been training with since. It's a great run on a great course with a great turnout. We probably had about a hundred or so runners starting out in pre-dawn downtown Akron. The weather was just about perfect too. Just a little chilly at the start, but warming very fast once the sun was up.

Dan H. and I ran together for the entire 20 miles, seeing others occasionally from time to time. We averaged just over 9 minute miles and maintained a nice comfortable chat-friendly pace throughout. I like the hills on this course and I'm a bit sad that I won't be able to run Akron this year. Maybe next year? We finished in just under 3 hours and I was back home by 11:00. After a little time to rest, we were off to Oktoberfest for the rest of the day. But that's an entirely different story...

The Erie Marathon is Sunday which will affect my training this week. As this isn't an "A" race, and just a long training run, I'm not going with a full 3 week taper leading up to race day. I'm just going to scale things back a little instead: Speed work tonight, not full blast, but not sandbagging it either, and another middle distance run on Wednesday or Thursday. And that will be all till Sunday. On Sunday, the Gauntlet begins.

Time For Some Cross Country Training (again)

It would seem that I should have stayed on my Wednesday speed work schedule, as my return to Tuesday night was met with full tracks. Soccer on one and pee wee football on the other. So Chuck, Charles, and I headed over to the park to run a half mile cross country loop. I was surprised to see Dan H. there after his long 100K on Sunday, but he even did a couple laps.

Our course consisted of beginning on the further end zone of the football field, up the sledding hill, around the baseball diamond, around the parking lot, past the playground, down the hill, past a second baseball diamond, and back to the end zone. It's actually a little over half a mile at .53 mile or so. After two warm-up laps we began 8 repeats. The splits were: @ 4:00 / 3:43 / 3:43 / 3:25 / 3:28 / 3:26 / 3:27 / and 3:21. We walked/jogged a 200 yard recovery down and back on the football field between each repeat.

Although the long uphill run left me feeling weak and out of breath at the top, I found I was able to recover quite rapidly after leveling out. That is a great cardio workout that left me tired but not beat up. We should really do that more often.

The weather is still great so I'm thinking of hitting the local trails tonight so that Mrs. P can join the group trail run tomorrow night. Looks like the weather is supposed to hold through the holiday weekend as well. Let's hope so. I have a long run planned for Saturday and am thinking about taking the bike out for one more long ride too. We'll see how I feel after attending Oktoberfest!