Holliston 10K Road Race

As part of my coaching, I am supposed to run a race every month either as a fitness check or workout to get used to racing so I am not as nervous and it takes a lot of the pressure away of only racing a few times a year.  The only race I could find that would fit in the schedule was a small local 10K which I had high hopes for.  However leading up to the race I was really struggling with some knee issues from running a hard time trial on the track which left me with tightness and general pain in my right knee. My coach and I had talked about just running it as a tempo workout and I good with that but I felt pretty good that morning so it turned into a little bit of a mixed run.

The race went out right around my 10K pace which is what caught me off guard slightly as I didn't expect to be in the lead pack, so we ran together for about 2 miles and then two guys broke off and just straight had a gear I didn't. After that I let off the gas a little and was going to settle back into tempo pace which I did for a mile, then I realized it was just 2 of us left in the chase pack for some reason so I picked it up as I was feeling good.  I was back on 10K pace in mile 5 until we hit a hill that everyone failed to mention which was like 6% grade for about 1/3 of a mile. I felt strong though in the hill and ended up dropping the other chaser and cruised home. I was surprised as to how strong I felt in that last mile and it helped my confidence a ton. I definitely think I could carry 6:00-6:10 pace for the entire 10K next time.

I ended up finishing 3rd overall in 39:08 (6:02, 6:10, 6:37, 6:20, 6:30, 6:02), slightly off my 10K equivalent time (38:12) but I was pretty happy overall as it was a relatively hilly course (in addition to the one big hill) and it was 70-75 degrees outside. I certainly could have run faster in the middle sections of the race had I not slowed down to tempo pace for a little bit. This was the first race in a long time where I felt fresh and strong so I am quite optimistic about the direction my training is headed.

Groton 5K & 10K Road Race

For some reason, I always feel obligated to run races I have run in previous years and this one I really enjoyed last year so it was a no-brainer.  In addition, it was my last race in the 20-29 year old age bracket, which sucks because the 30-39 bracket is much more competitive for some reason. I think all the college runners decide to start running after they get out of shape when they leave college but thats just a guess.

I decided this year to run the double which not many people do but its a good way to get mileage in and since I am already there I figured why not.  I couldn't decide which race I would run as my primary but I felt like I had unfinished business in the 5K since I definitely could have run faster than I did in the BAA 5K.  I decided to target the 5K as my primary race to get a new PR. The race went out pretty fast as expected since there are usually decent runners at the event and I threw down a 5:41 first mile which scared the living crap out of me. I was in new territory with paces that fast so I slowed down which in retrospect I don't think I necessarily needed to. My splits were 5:41, 5:59, 5:53 for a final of 18:21, a shiny new PR just two weeks after my last and 10th place overall in a pretty competitive race. I guess the training was working as I dropped my 5K by well over a minute in about 6 months on just base mileage. Even now I really think I could have run even faster because I backed way far off when I saw that 5:41 and my legs were definitely banged up and fatigued as I was coming off an 80+ mile week. 

The 10K was going to be just a tempo run for me so I started out around 6:50 a mile and was feeling good so I just ended up running a progression run with my last mile coming in around 6:20 which isn't half bad.  What is crazy is a I ran a huge PR just as a tempo run of 41:23 which I was very happy with.

It also turned out that I ended up winning my age group in the 5K and got an Amazon.com gift card in the mail a week later.  This was a pretty cool feeling since up until now I only ever really won trophy's which are nice but its always good to win some money even if it didn't cover the cost of the race entry itself.

BAA 5K

My first race coming out of base building and although I hadn't done any speedwork I was optimistic about improving my 5K PR.  The race was pretty insane given that they crammed 6,000 people onto Bolyston street.  I was lined up in the 5:30 pace corral despite knowing I wasn't that fit, but how can I not when theres a guy dressed up as a hamburger in the same corral.

The start of the race was an absolute shit show where I had to jump over a lady who got trampled and was face down on the pavement because obviously she can't run a sub-6:00 mile.  After the crazy start it opened up a little bit and we came around the commons to a big hill which definitely slowed me down. On the downhill portion I saw a guy get his foot suck in a rut in the road proceed to break his ankle and smash his face which was slightly concerning and made me overly aware of my foot placement for the rest of the race. Overall I was holding back in this race as I had no idea what pace I could hold.  I ran a crazy negative split with 6:19, 5:59, 5:53 for an 18:45 5K which was a PR by 45 seconds over my previous from September.

10-Miler, Taper, Marathon & More!

Apologies to those of you that follow my blog for being AWOL for the past month but this post will make up for it and I'll start being better once again about posting interesting things since I am in a period of recovery.

Marathon Training - Week 13

After the 5Km, I was feeling pretty high on life from both the fast time I posted and the long run the following day that was the fastest and best I have ever felt during a long run. I was hoping to ride that feeling into the final 3 weeks of training but nothing goes as planned. The week after the race I came down with a combination of the flu and bad fall allergies, which sidelined me for about 4 days. The first few days back were really rough as I felt extremely sluggish even running 6 mile recovery runs. I was also basically stuck in the middle of wanting one more quality week at 70+ miles and starting my 3 week taper, so I decided to push through and get one more quality week in then taper in 2 weeks. This quality week included a 20-miler to make sure I still had it in my legs and a 10-mile race.

So if you have been following my blog, you know I have a love hate relationship with Harvard, MA. The town is beautiful and there is a good race series that is run there, but those damn hills are absolutely brutal. I can't imagine living in Harvard and training in those hills daily, although it might be a good thing.

Apple Harvest Ramble (10M)

The 10-miler was a stacked field because it is marathon season and most good marathoners use these races as fitness tests. My goal pace going in was 6:46/mile but it turns out that this course was even more ridiculous than the previous 5-miler I ran earlier this year. There was a 3/4 mile climb at mile 4 that really cleared out the field and I saw people off to the side looking like they were going to hurl. The middle miles were pretty normal for Harvard, lots of rolling hills and some quality climbs, but I held my 6:50/mile pace through mile 7. However, the next mile had me face to face with that same hill that made me walk previously. I was determined this time to not walk and I made it running the whole hill. After the race a woman came up to me who I was running with and said I carried her up that hill because all she wanted to do was walk. I ended up finishing in a respectable 14th given the quality of the field.

Marathon Taper

The two taper weeks were a new experience for me since I haven't run such few miles in probably almost 6 months. The goal of the taper is to reduce volume, sharpen speed and recovery while maintaining a consistent intensity. The first week this was easy, I just pulled my 2 doubles out and dropped to 50 miles for the week and started feeling really good. The Sunday long run of 13 miles was nearly the fastest I have ever run half marathon and I barely felt like I was trying which gave me a ton of confidence.

The second taper week was really hard on me; primarily because I am crazy OCD about my weight (unfortunate side effect of at one point being almost 300 lbs). The lack of volume was causing me to retain more water weight than I was used to and so I was overcompensating and not eating enough. I think this contributed to the mid-week feeling that I was getting sick with the flu which also stressed me out.

So for many of you this may sound crazy, but one of the worst part of the taper week was having to carbo-load and needing to eat nothing but carbs for 2 straight days. I can imagine most people would like a free ticket to just eat and eat whatever they want but that is really hard for me. I had to consume roughly 500g of carbs Friday and Saturday without getting sick or losing my mind from the temporary weight gain. In case anyone is interested in what 500g of carbs looks like here was Friday's menu:

- 1/4 Box of Kashi Go Lean
- 3 Kashi Granola Bars
- 1 Banana
- 1 Apple
- 1 Grilled Chicken Sandwich on a Bulkie Roll
- 3 Servings of Mini Pretzels
- 1 Box of Kellog's Cracker Chips
- 1/3 Loaf of French Bread
- 1 Cup Garbanzo Beans
- 2 Cups Spinach-Mushroom Risotto
- 1/2 Box of Peanut Butter Puffins
- 1/2 Box of Kellog's Special K w/ Red Berries
- 1/2 Bag of Popcorn Chips

Just seeing that list makes me sick to my stomach, and having two do it two days in a row was even worse.

Baystate Marathon

This was definitely a new experience for me from a racing perspective as I have always at least run the race distance once prior to a race and in training the longest I had run was 22 miles. I think maybe this is really what the magic of the marathon is all about because you just don't know what is going to happen over those last 4 or 6 miles that you haven't run before.

I had a hard time sleeping from the excitement and anxiety so I only got about 4-5 hours of sleep the night before but Tina did a great job of keeping me organized and the morning was actually not very stressful at all. She made sure the car was packed and basically I just had to throw my clothes on and get in the car. We got to the race with plenty of time for me to get ready and fight the porta-potty lines.

On the starting line I was feeling a pretty wide range of emotions with everything from complete adrenaline to the sinking feeling of "What the fuck did I get just get myself into thinking I can run 26 miles". I lined up with the 3:15 pacers because that was about the time I was thinking I might be able to run if everything turned out as planned.

When the gun for the race went off, I learned an extremely valuable lesson which is nothing ever goes as planned. I had 2 energy gels in my waist band and one fell out! I got a sinking feeling that I was in trouble but I settled myself and adjusted the plan to take one of the gels they were giving out on the course and use that in place of the one I lost. Within the first half mile I realized that the 3:15 pacers had no idea what they were doing as they were running 8:20/miles which is way too slow even if you want to go out slow. In retrospect, this was the best possible scenario as running a marathon is about running based on feel and you shouldn't race based on someone else's fitness or feeling that day.

The first 6 miles or so flew by and were a complete adrenaline blur. The big question mark on the day was whether I could handle the water stations as I wasn't wearing a water belt. The first water station I missed because they only had Gatorade or at least none of the people called out that they had water. I knew this was okay because I typically only took water in training every 4 miles. The second stop I got water and luckily saw someone doing something awesome to drink, they took the cup, pinched the top and then folded the top down to create a tiny opening to drink from. I copied it and it worked like a charm and 14 water stations later I am a pro at drinking from a cup now!

The race basically consisted of two 10 mile loops along the river in Lowell with 3 miles to and from the loop. The loop turned back around the 8 and 18 mile marks over this really weird bridge. The bridge itself wasn't weird but the walkway that we ran over was so strange, it felt almost like rubber and the bridge itself would bounce up and down as cars drove by. It actually was a nice break for my legs and I looked forward to it on the second loop.

For pace, I had figured based on my training runs I should run somewhere around 7:20/mile but one thing to note about this race is it is designed for Boston Qualifiers so there are packs of people running at the various qualifying times. There was basically a pack around 7:00/mile and 7:30/mile, neither of which worked for me. I chose to hang with the 7:00/mile pack for the first half of the race. This actually led to an official PR in the half marathon with a split of 1:34:49 which I am pretty happy about given it was in the middle of my first marathon.

In the world of marathons, miles 13 to 20 are considered "No Mans Land" and can be some of the toughest miles. The first creeping feeling that maybe I had bitten off more than I could chew was around mile 15 where I was like holy crap I still have 11 miles to go. At that point I was still on 7:10/mile pace and I could feel fatigue starting to settle in. I decided to back off and drop away from the pack and try and hold the 7:20/mile I planned from the start for the remainder of the race. I was feeling pretty good at that pace and definitely started feeling like I could actually finish this running this race and not walk.

As I was running over the mile 20 marker, I noticed on the ground that someone had spray painted a message, "Welcome to the Wall!". For those of you that don't know, the "Wall" is the point in an endurance race where your body runs out of fuel (it usually equates to mile 20 regardless of pace because of the rate at which your body burns fuel at various paces) and is something everyone tries to avoid hitting. I was feeling really good at that point and had run 22 in training without hitting a wall and not taking the my 3rd energy gel at mile 20 so I was hopeful that I would make it through the race without meeting the "Wall". I had executed my plan which was to try to get to this point as if the race was only half way over as I had read that mile 20 is the halfway point in a marathon regardless of what anyone says.

Miles 22-24 were tough but I definitely had yet to hit that point of utter exhaustion although my pace was slipping which you can see in my splits below. I think the 3rd energy gel helped me get to this point in relatively good shape, but there is only so much that science can do in these situations.

I now completely understand what marathoners mean when they say that you learn a lot about yourself as a person in those last 2-3 miles of the marathon. Those 2 miles were the longest I have ever run in my entire life and felt like they were as long as the 24 I had previously run. It became a 16 minute war between my body and my brain. All I wanted to do was stop running and walk but I told myself that I would never forgive myself if I did as I wanted to run a marathon not walk. The road literally felt like it went on forever as I looked for the final bridge but around each turn was more race course. I thought about how I needed to keep running for Colin, Tina and everyone else who had supported me through the training. I am not sure exactly where the strength to keep going came from but I certainly didn't do it on my own.

I finally came to the final bridge and knew that I had done what I had set out to do. At that point I did get passed by a few people including a guy carrying his shoes running barefoot but I didn't care who passed me. I was going to finish the race and nothing could stop me. As I turned the last corner I did almost lose it emotionally but held myself together. I started thinking about how two years ago I was nearly 300 lbs and would get winded walking to the car from the office and here I was finishing a marathon. I even got to have the announcer call out my name at the end of the race as I raised my hands and crossed the finish line which was a truly surreal experience.

My final time was 3:17:08 which wasn't far off my stretch goal of 3:15:00. It also was only 7 minutes off qualifying for the Boston Marathon in my debut race. All in all I ran the best possible race I could have that day and it was an experience that I will remember for the rest of my life. I am now happily recovering and looking forward to some much needed rest and enjoying the accomplishment before I move onto my next goal, a BQ and sub-3:00:00 marathon.

Marathon Splits

Split		Pace
1		07:11.10
2		07:06.20
3		07:11.70
4		07:06.00
5		07:12.00
6		07:17.20
7		07:13.00
8		07:12.70
9		07:08.30
10		07:11.30
11		07:08.00
12		07:09.70
13		07:10.50
14		07:26.00
15		07:17.70
16		07:21.00
17		07:24.00
18		07:26.20
19		07:27.00
20		07:27.70
21		07:41.50
22		07:42.00
23		07:54.20
24		08:10.50
25		08:09.20
26		08:45.70
0.2		03:38.00
Total:		03:17:08.40

The one thing that this experience has taught me is that nothing in this world is impossible and you truly can accomplish anything if you work hard enough.

Maynard 5K Road Race 2012

So this was my first road race since I hit the peak of my marathon training and it proved to be exactly what I had hoped for....

My first age-group win!

So here is a picture of me, Brandon and Colin before the race.  Colin is in his typically pose, sprawled out in his stroller relaxing!

I'll start off with a recap of Brandon's race as that was part of the reason why I was so amped up. I had been talking to Brandon for a while about running a race together and he decided he would come up and run his first road race in Maynard.  He has been training hard for the past few months to come up and do it and he delivered on his promise in a big way. Before the race, he said he was going to run around 10:00 min/miles so after I finished we were waiting around and almost missed him coming up to the finish line because he actually ended up running 8:24 min/miles and finished in 26:34. I can tell you that most people when they run their first race or really any race typically will overestimate their ability and training but apparently Brandon had trained harder than he thought and the adrenaline of the race did him good.  I do remember my first race last year and how it turned into quite an addiction so you never know, Brandon and I could be dueling it out next year for top honors.

Now onto my race recap.  I knew I was going to be one of the faster runners in the race so I made sure to stay to the front which turned out to be easy because no one knew where the starting line actually was and I just made sure I stood in front of the mass of people.  Here is pic of the start of the race:

Most of the people who finished in front of me are on the left hand side of the picture including the guy who sadly was running with a stroller and still ran 5:49 min/miles.  The race started off with a pretty decent size hill up from the intersection above and that was really the only hill on the course.  My goal was to see if I could run a comfortable first mile under 6:30 and if I was feeling good I would keep pushing it. My first split was 6:22 which gave me the green light to push hard and try to break 20 minutes.  At this point, I saw about 3 people ahead of me and really no one behind me.  One of those guys started to fall off and I passed one other and ran a 6:30 for the second mile, which concerned me slightly because the goal in 5Ks is to make sure that 2nd mile doesn't fall too far off target pace.  I had to pick it up and I saw a younger high school kid in the distance that I tried to reel in during the last mile.  He proved to be just a little too fast for me and I wasn't ever able to catch him despite a 6:15 closing split. At the end there was a dash to the finish and one of the guys I passed earlier had caught up and out kicked me to the finish to beat me by :02.  I finished 7th overall in 19:29 and got my first ever age-group win which is great because once I turn 30 I move into the bracket where most of the legitimate road runners are.

Great Harvard 4th of July Road Race

I wasn't looking forward to this race because I prefer to run either 5K or 10K but it turned out to be a lot of fun.  I heard at the starting line that there was a "hill" on the course but I didn't know what was in store until I actually got there.

The hill was 1/3 of mile long and 18% grade, nearly everyone except for maybe the top 2-3 people walked up it.  I started off at a nice pace, 6:42, 6:52 for my first two miles and then came the hill.  I dropped down to nearly 10:00 min/mile pace and it sure took a lot out of me.  I did finish strong though with finishing miles of 7:10 and 7:20. 

I finished 33rd overall which is pretty cool. I am still getting a feel for how fast I can run at shorter distances as I was barely tired after the end of the race and felt like I left a lot in the tank.  I'll post some pictures of my cheering section tonight.

Boston Run to Remember - 1st Half Marathon!

So after 18 weeks of training, the day finally came...my first half marathon!

I didn't really know what to expect as I have never been to a race this large before, a total of 5800 runners were signed up for the race. It was quite the experience to say the least, the crowds were crazy and on the way to the finish people were pushing out into the street and we literally ran through what felt like a 3 foot wide chute to the finish line.

Now on to the actual race...

Based on some advice, I decided to start near the front, near the 6:00 min/mile pace, as supposedly people don't line up based on their actual pace.  After the gun went off, everyone took off pretty quickly and with all the excitement I was right along side them.  After about 2 miles in the first time clock was showing under 14 minutes which is when I realized I was running way too fast.

My first four mile splits were: 6:05, 6:15, 7:25, 7:45.  I tried to slow down but didn't want to slow down too much and the people around me were passing me so it was tough.  I finally settled into an 8:00 pace which is where I wanted to stay.  I did have some issues at the water stops as drinking out of a cup while running is something I have yet to master and I had to go back to get water twice because I got Gatorade.  Around mile 10, we hit two back to back hills that took their toll on me and many others who started walking, so I had to drop my pace way down.  I would say mile 11 was by far the hardest simply because I was running out of gas and it felt like it dragged on forever. 

My official net time was 1:49:22, just about 4 minutes slower than I was hoping to run on the perfect day, so I was pretty happy since it was pretty hot and humid compared to the weather I trained in.

If I learned one thing from this that I will take forward, it is that you need to run your own race as I proved in training I could hold an 8:00 pace for all 13 miles but by going out too fast I hit a pretty hard wall.  I am going to run another half marathon at the end of the summer near the conclusion of my marathon training so I am hoping to break the 1:40:00 mark this year.

I hope to have some pictures to post shortly from the race and afterwards.

So ends my 13.1 adventure and now after a few weeks of some base maintenance I'll be moving on to a new one, 26.2...

10K Groton Road Race 2011 - So close...

I ran my first race since January this week and I had forgotten just how much fun it was!  It was also my first race that my son Colin attended, so it made it that much better to know he was out rooting for dad.

As for the race itself, I came in having two goals. First was to run under 54:00 minutes or a sub-9:00 pace and the other slightly more lofty goal was to try and break 50:00 or a sub-8:00 pace.

My final time was 50:05.

I wish I had know that it was going to be close so I could have pushed a little harder, but at least now I know I could do it.  The course was definitely tougher than my previous 10K and had ton of rolling hills and some really windy sections.  By far my favorite part of the race was the last mile or so, where I started to turn it on and just started passing everyone as they ran out of gas.

10k at Lowell 1st Run

So after about 3 months of training I was ready for my first 10k race. The turn out was really good for it as Tina said they announced 1500+ registrants. The weather was insane for the middle of winter with the peak temperature during the race somewhere around 60 degrees.

I ran a really good first split of 31:46, but I struggled a little towards the end of the 2nd split. Also, I learned a valuable lesson which is to bring my own water bottle because it is pretty hard to drink water from paper cups while running. Both times through the water station I poured water up my nose trying to drink from those stupid cups.

My overall time was 1:05:15 which is my new personal best for the 10k, so overall I am happy and it is good to get my first 10k under my belt.

Here are two pictures from the race:

2010 Acton Turkey Trot - Results

My 2nd race ever turned out to be even more fun than the first. The weather was crappy but spirits were high and the turnout was good. Although the circumstances were strange, I met one of the Kenyan runners who is a contender for the Boston Marathon. I ran into him in the restroom prior to the race where he was covering himself in Vaseline (not sure why, but I am guessing he wasn't just doing it because his skin was dry).

As for the race, it turned out better than I could have ever expected. I turned in my first sub-30 minute 5k result, over 10 minutes faster than my last 5k just 2 months ago. My official result time was 30:15, but I started my timer right when I crossed the start line and my timer read 29:49.

Onto my next goal, an actual 10k race.

Turkey Trottin'

If anyone is interested there are still spots open in the 2010 Acton Turkey Trot on Friday (11/26). It is a 5k run or walk for local charity. http://comed.ab.mec.edu/ActonTurkeyTrot.pdf I drove the route recently and its not terribly hilly. The only rough part might be the fact that the biggest hill is about half a mile before the finish line. I guess they want you to finish strong...