2018 3:20 (and beyond) (Read 582 times)

I mostly decided last minute to pick up the third marathon (and over) and get the maniac check mark.  After the 50k I was thinking I could find another low key trail race and just grind it out, not worry about time or anything.  This particular weekend seems the be the peak of New York season as there was Lake Placid, another road deal around the lake by Cooperstown, and this trail one in Ontario County (counterintuitivly not on Lake Ontario, but south of Rochester).  The road ones were typically priced, Ontario summit was cheaper so I went with that.  Plus the group had a web address ‘roadsarepoison.com’ and that’s too good.

I didn’t really have a plan to get up there, Airbnb had a few thing, but a lot of that was camping.  I thought about just leaving early and making the whole drive before, it’s a little long but straight up from here and actually easier than most other places in NY (including the city if you’re not going in the middle of the night or during an ice storm that one time). I started looking at hotels and found one that was Airbnb priced in Bath, north of Corning and that made my decision for me.  I left right after work, however, I made a stop on the Mall to catch a bit of the Slackers who were playing for free in the sculpture garden by the National Gallery.  And that also gave the traffic a chance to clear.  Still at 7:30 with a bit of a drive I wasn’t settled in until after midnight.

The start wasn't stupid early so I got some sleep (more than Thursday night probably) and made the rest of the 45 minute drive relaxed and easy in the morning.  The park is smallish and located on the top of the hill by Canandiagua Lake, although I could not see it.  The valley on the other side was dry, but had a nice overlook.  There was a full and a half, but the half started later.  A small crowd lined up, including a guy with a bigger beer belly than me, which was surprising.   I had checked out the course, which was a little complicated as it left the park grounds and didn’t show that section.  But the elevation profile had a respectable climb from mile 6-10 (and again on he second loop).  I had been out to catoctin in April and did 4.5 hours/20 miles on that beast as a test for the 50k, so I knew I could grind out that much if not much else.  It also kept me from attempting something more crazy like the 50 miler last month.

I really don't know what to say about the switchbacks on this course.  They were insane, almost the whole time in th woods you saw people going other ways.  Dirty German has a bit of that, but this was miles.  And long sections where you were seeing people that were maybe half a mile ahead, too.  It did make the climb from the valley back up somewhat easier. But it just stretched out so much.  I’m used to at some level just going straight up any hill and getting it over with, maybe that’s just the peak bagger in me. In fact, we came down a steep section that was a mile or less, so if the course was backwards I might have preferred that.

First lap was ok, I had a lot of company for most of it.  Felt squirrelly for the second half of that loop but legs were pretty fresh.  I ran a lot even on the climb because it was 10-15 feet of little hill and then flat or even some down after.  If I stopped I felt silly so I just pushed the up and then recovered.  Second lap was not as smooth.  I had taken a bit of a tumble very early (probably mile 4) and when I stopped at the aid station 2ish miles later I realized my lower leg had really puffed up.  It wasn’t the worst pain, but it freaked one of the people at the aid station out and I was thinking about it for a while.  I fell again on the second loop and I started to wonder if it was the shoes I was wearing.  They are heavier than my others, I guess.  Lesson is don’t buy off-brand New Balance trail shoes from Kohl’s.  But I had luck with the previous pair, so I don’t know.

The third fall I landed mostly on my face and that really had me dial the running back.  There was virtually no one around for this loop and I figured I could just keep moving and finish up.  I had misplaced my watch and was using the phone strava app, which had the first loop at 14 miles and either it was long like every trail race ever, or the app was unreliable.  Either way I knew it would say 28 when I finished.  And when I got back to the start area, I also knew I had a mile to go yet.  Time wise I was around 5:50 at ‘mile 27’ so I thought I had a shot at sub 6 if I just ran it I needed from there.  But I was something like 6:03 officially so I didn’t manage that.  Post race there was beer and burritos and a small awards ceremony.  They went two deep and I managed second in 40-49 so I got a bandanna thing.  And a few more people filtered in, but that was pretty much it.  Drove down to check out the lake.  Maybe on peak bagging stop in PA that I could drive up.  And was home before midnight to crash out and sleep the rest of the weekend away.

Now I don’t know what my plans are.  I really, really hate running long in the summer.  There’s going to be a steeplechase and a under armour mountian run in Vermont some point in August that is tempting .  And I have to give up any ideas about a last minute qualifier, so I can just pick a much later fall race and train properly for once.

SC: hard to say my goal for sure just yet, but sub-3:00 is definitely on my mind. I’ve pretty much decided to run Indy and will probably sign up soon as the price goes up. It’s 1,000 less feet of elevation gain from my 3:05 effort so that should help. Also, what compression socks did you wear at the marathon? I like running in my compression socks for long runs or even just recovery, but would like to try the calf sleeves.

Rovatti: I realize I made a calf comment directed to the wrong person (FB). My bad. I hope you recover quickly.

Brew: is 223 miles a weekly record for you? I think that’d be a monthly record for me.

DW: enjoy the taper. You could have someone hide your pendant in the trash again to pass the time?

Forgot to mention (because I know the anticipation was high) I’m still adapting to orthotics. The initial “temp” pair were doing well, then the “real” ($$$) ones came in and I’m having trouble with them. They give me arch and shin pain. I went back to the temp pair until I follow up with PT tomorrow.

ilana ~ Your house looks like it will be gorgeous! My son and his GF are in your 'neighborhood' - they are on a post-graduation (before starting 'real' life ... aka work) trip ... this segment is Colo Springs to Mesa Verde to 4 Corners to Grand Staircase-Escalante to Grand Canyon.

Today's weather didn't do anything to help DkW acclimate, but at 65, cloudy, and low dew point, I almost had some spring in my step.

 

Dad:  So if that is the intended purpose, do you have any idea what would be an indicator that a runner is not using his/her general strength?

For me, two things stand out: 1) I don't feel like I have any pop (explosive power) when I try to accelerate (or jump for that matter; my vertical is about 1 inch) and 2) when I run anything moderately fast (say faster than LT), my legs fatigue way faster than breathing becomes an issue, but I recover super quick -- so I don't think it is 'endurance' or 'speed.' Good question.

 

 

Keen: Ha! I like that you've gone from a one-light town to a no-light town.  That's small

 

 

Keen: I think the farmer hated the light as much as everyone else. The comment above is awesome though. Heck....you're not even a town if you don't have a DQ (Texas stop sign) but I've been to a place as small as your town. I feel like a city slicker when I'm there but I might fit in better than most.

Jim I didn't know you did the Lake Tahoe Relay. I've wanted to do it however I think most of my team "enjoys" doing the RTO and probably doesn't want to switch "because we do the RTO" but I'm sure it's the same thing for your team doing Lake Tahoe....2 days vs 1 for the RTO.

rlk Did you do the Lake Tahoe Relay? I saw a photo of the impala team on their social media account and it kind of looks like you however I think she is wearing different color sunglasses than you do in most of your photos.

a-a-ron It's a personal best. I tried to mask it as much as possible. Actually I think I had one week longer when I went to Jamaica. LOTS of running that weekend and the weekend after.

I need to order new prescription lenses. I have to go in an order them because Oakley won't let me do it through their website. Last time I went (2 years ago) it took over an hour and at that point the lady had to see if my Oakley lenses had any special coatings or if they were polarized.....I'm pretty sure they would be called "polarized _____" if they were. I'm sure it's going to be cheaper to buy a whole new frame/lens combo. Maybe my insurance will cover it.

I am also woefully behind, but I am not going to force an entire catchup-penance on myself like Jim did.

brew- yes I was! Ooh, I will check out their social media stuff. A few of us were lamenting out general lack of diversity over the weekend - so it's possible that was me, but at least half of us are youngish white women with brown ponytails and blue clothing, so who knows. And lol @ recognizing sunglasses. I almost lost those this weekend and would have been quite sad - but we found 'em.
update- if i'm seeing the same photo you did , it's from last year and funnily enough you are probably mistaking kinase for me. she was on RWOL before your time (and on my team before i joined), but most folks here know her.

jim- re. dicing an onion - the food processor is a b*tch to wash!

sclever- i'm retroactively enjoying your marathon-outfit-optimizing. 
"From roughly mile 3 or 4 until about 20, the race was pretty uneventful" - this is what we all hope for every time! also A+ usage of the word "ennui". huge congrats to you and Miley on the PR and BQ!!!!!!!!!!! it was definitely all the half-tights.

rovatti- calf condolences. don't have any advice to give, but i'm hoping it clears up soon and that XT is somewhat enjoyable.

Ilana- Ugh, the fires look/sound awful. I can finally empathize after what the Bay Area experienced last fall. stay safe and don't hesitate to skip runs/outdoor time (as much as that sucks)!!

glasses- i get mine from a place that I think charged $150 initially for frame+lens, and the other week I walked in with a new Rx and in 30min they popped out the old lenses, shaved down (or whatever..?) new ones, and it was just $50. get to keep frames I like and $50 every time I need to update the Rx isn't bad. Contacts, on the other hand..... pricey! Especially with astigmatism. Can't wait 'til my vision stops getting worse so I can get Lasik. Apparently (age-wise) this should have already happened -_-
brew- check them out, the brand is Jins. They have a store here but I think you can do it all by website/mail if you need.

Yes, Tahoe Relays! 73mi of road around the lake, 7 runners, lots of hills, altitude, etc. We had an Open and Masters team, and I was one of a few "support" people there for the weekend - not racing (I had no desire to!), but jumping in with most racers for a few miles to keep them company. This is a smallish race and it strings out very quickly, so most racers are actually alone the whole time! There's also no "aid" which is particularly important at altitude, so support crew is there to provide that as well. Support is still physically tough- I ended up doing ~11mi, most at (someone's) race pace and a few miles of just jogging, over the course of an 8hour day. It was a beautiful day on Saturday - great conditions for racing, except for some gnarly headwinds in the NW section of the lake.

A funky GPS file: https://www.strava.com/activities/1628212528
I pressed start/stop on my watch each time I ran, but only "save" at the end of the day, so it'd be just one GPS file. If you zoom in you can see the sections I ran, but Strava draws a straight line to connect the gaps in runs.

So while I did not race a singular leg of the relay, two sections in particular left me quite sore yesterday/today - a ~2mi/5% grade hill that I ran with a very speedy teammate (she averaged 6:30 pace on the 13.3mi/1700ft leg - I could only keep up with her for the 2mi!) and also 5mi (containing 2mi of ~8% downhill) i ran later in the day with a former OTQ teammate, who kept us between 6:10-6:50 pace.

Sadly did not run into Jim!! I take it LMJS did a mixed masters team or something? So our timing probably didn't line up very well. 
Open and Masters teams came away with the W, for a few years running now.

Last week for me was 50 miles of running and "12" miles of pool-running.

M: upper body weights/core, DIY yoga, and 6 "miles" pool-running.
T: 12 miles - 3 mile warm-up (8:47), 800, 1600, 1600, 800 in 3:02, 6:05, 5:56, 2:46.  Then a 4.5 mile cool-down (8:58) plus injury prevention work and recovery swimming.
W: 9 miles very easy (9:03) plus DIY yoga.  Massage in afternoon.
Th: upper body weights/core, DIY yoga, and 6 "miles" pool-running.

F: 11 miles - 3 mile warm-up (8:40), 5K tempo in 19:56 (6:37/6:19/6:16/0:44), Then a 5 mile cool-down (9:16) plus injury prevention work and recovery swimming.

Sa: 8 miles very easy (8:53) and then upper body weights/core and DIY yoga.

Su: 10 miles aerobic (7:51) followed by light injury prevention work and DIY yoga.

***

Today was light upper body weights/core, DIY yoga, and 6 "miles" pool-running.

The weather is not looking great for Grandma's right now.  Starts around 60, ends in the high 60s, and very humid.  Still time for that to change, I hope.  If it doesn't, I'll get a chance to test out all the heat acclimation I've been doing this cycle.  The good news is that Saturday and Sunday were both in the 70s with nearly 100% humidity, and I was decently comfortable both days.

Legs are feeling flipping fantastic, so that's a plus.  I feel better and sharper than I did before Boston.  I just wish I could get the weather to show off my fitness.

OMR - That's entirely possible. I know that people have complained before that the light was too low and anyone in a piece of big equipment would either hit the light or make a weird route around it while in the intersection.

Oregon - This is actually still pretty big compared to the town I grew up in. Even in that whole county to this day there is only one traffic light - a similarly unnecessary flashing yellow at a highway intersection ~8 miles from the nearest town.

DWave - Physically running fasted isn't an issue for me (at least to 20mi), it was doing the math that was an issue. I could have sworn that when I looked at my watch I needed 1.6 miles to get to 15 for the LR. .8mi out and back plus what I was already at *should* have given me a pretty exact turnaround point. Either my carb-deprived brain messed up the math or I flat-out misread my watch.
It's awesome that you're feeling in such great shape, but bummer about the (possible) weather. I know this isn't exactly the time of year for it, but have you ever considered putting together an open-ended training cycle and just hopping into a race that looks like a favorable course and weather once you feel like you've hit that peak fitness?

McB - I heartily agree with Lasik. I had mine done about the same time you did. Easily one of the best decisions I've made.
Father-of-three fatigue: Ha! I know what you mean!

I had an nice run this morning, partially because the heat didn't seem to bother me much and partly because my HR was silly low throughout despite the workout yesterday and what I consider to be a decent easy-effort pace given the terrain and conditions. I did see a bunch of cyclists spread out from about miles 1-5.5 of my run, which is really odd since I'm almost always the only one doing anything athletic on these roads. Turns out there's a week-long bike tour across Oklahoma going on that just happens to go through my little town this year.