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

Hi, all,

Thanks for the support!

Dad: no worries about tracking... I wasn't very specific when I provided my bib.

And 2 more things:

1. The freaking neuromuscular thing related to hypothermia, I don't know if it's true, but I could barely walk until I put dry socks and shoes.  It was day and night.

2. Your generic is spot on.

Congrats to all 3:20ers in Boston... I know it was an ordeal

I'm not sure I'm gonna write a RR but it was harder than expected.

The village was a mud paradise, no place to chill out. Line ups for toilets under the rain, and then the walk to the start... I think I lost a lot of energy before the race.

When the race started my shins "turned on", and my well known foot numbness when it's racetime.  so it was a discomfort and that until Km 7 or 8.  I was doubting if I would be able to finish.

Ditched the sweater at 5K.  thinking that it was warm enough. So I was in t-shirt and shorts

Windy in some places,  Downpour 3 or 4 times, and rainy/drizzle the rest of the time.

I tried to enjoy the atmosphere for 10-15Kms then I was back at hard work.

I guess I did OK in the hills but I wasn't able to speedup in the downhill.  My left knee started acting up and I was very tight in my upper thighs...

I also started feeling every rough road patch... not sure if my shoes degraded with the rain or that I was mentally out of it.

When I arrived I could barely walk so it took me easily 15 minutes to get to the bag claim (other runners where walking far faster than me and even shoving me), I wasn't feeling well and I got even more cold waiting in line for my stuff.

After I got my bag, I started hesitating where I was going to get warm and  if I would make it to that place.  At the second wheel chair I threw the towel and asked to be transported to a warm place.  They took me to the medical tent where it was just a matter of 10-15 minutes for me to recover... Basically, to take the wet stuff off and put metallic blankets.then put dry clothes on. After that I was able to walk.

By the way,  the wet clothes weighted 4.5 lbs

After I saw the news, I felt better about my time.

The biggest Little Half Marathon 2018 (pacing)

The Biggest Little Half Marathon is in it’s third year and I’ve decided to run this race every year I possibly can to keep a streak alive for no reason other than being able to say I’ve done them all. This year I lucked into pacing the 2:00 group which would be my third time pacing and first time pacing this event which could make a continued streak very easy.

Race Day:

Race morning conditions were cool (roughly 42F at race start but felt colder) but favorable for a run of this length and even better for the course because it involves a fair amount of hill running in the second half. My wife, with our 4 month old son, was working the 5K aid station which allowed me to do my warm up and cool down while having easy parking. It also allowed me to get a feel for the pace I’d aim for (9:05-9:07 at the start) to finish in time. I setup my Garmin 235 to show lap pace, total distance, and total time on screen 1, and average pace on screen 2. This should help me keep the goal since I couldn’t fine my RaceFace app in time to load the watch.

Mile 1-10k turn around:

The beginning of the race starts out slightly downhill then flat. It’s a common start for races in the area so I know it well and it’s easy to start too fast. Knowing I’m here to pace I settle in to a 9:07 not wanting to make anyone blow up too early. I hear two people wonder if I have to hold the sign for the whole race and how miserable it would be to which I respond “Its not that bad. At least it’s not a water bottle.” since I’ve carried one of those full and they’re about 4 pounds heavier. A group develops around me and people ask what my goal is and how we are doing. “I have 9:07/mi average for the race so far.” Aid station 1 works great because it’s the 5k turn around and it’s loaded with about 8 volunteers all ready for the ambush of runners coming at the start. I forget how popular the 2:00 pace is since I’ve run faster for a while but this was my first half marathon goal and I remember walking aid stations to be able to get hydrated vs. saving 3 seconds on my overall time.

Mile 4-HM turn around:

The 10k turn around aid station goes smoothly as there are less people and we’re all mostly lined up and settled into our paces. It seems like the people around me will be running through aid stations which will make it easier. I talk to a few ladies around me. One says she might fall back but she is stronger after 10 miles. Another seems to be having a good day and is running strong. Around mile 3.5 a tiny little girl (like 100 pounds, 4’11, reminding me of my niece) comes CHARGING past three or four of us, stops to talk to a volunteer, then CHARGES past us again to talk to a cop. She’s looking for the 5K turnaround. A few of us let out the “oh man” response. The 5k was supposed to start 15 minutes after the half marathon. All of us agree we feel better about her strength because we’re 3.5 miles in and she’s ZOOMING past us. I notice at mile 4 my watch is about off by about 0.05. “I should be okay but I’ll start going for a 9:05 average. It should be enough and won’t require increasing speed too much for a few miles.” After a short steep uphill I tell the runner near me not to go too fast on the downhill. The course is a long gradual uphill coming back. She thanks me when I point out where it starts/stops (depending how you look at it) and we cruise into the turn around.

HM turnaround to finish:

The course rounds a local lake with exercise path. The aid station is positioned on the path and after checking my watch for the last few miles I want to see where I’ll be for time at the turn around. The turn around is small. The table is located right at the turn around cone so I see it’s tight. It’s also just a walking path so it is tight. My plan is to stay left of the table, let the runners there clear out, let the runners coming in grab something and just stay clear of everyone because it’s just that cramped. If I miss water or Tailwind I’ll be okay.  As I start to go left a runner takes about 2 steps out of the aid station and we collide. She apologizes and I tell her not to worry. I’m actually more concerned about her race and how she feels because I’m doing just fine. I catch up to her about a half mile later and she apologizes again. I tell her not to worry.  I totally miss the time check. I have no idea when I went through the half so I pull out my phone and Google “half marathon pace chart” and find a total time chart for each mile. I notice I’m behind about 20 seconds which seems odd for being at an average of 9:06 at this point. 20 seconds over 6 miles shouldn’t be that bad. About 3 seconds per mile faster so we now aim for a 9:04 to make up more time this mile and spread some out later.

Now we enter the “long gradual uphill” I told previous runners about. It’s 175 feet gain over 1.1 miles. Having run it as a race I know how painfully long it can be especially at mile 7 of a race. I hear people comment about me being their goal or “it’s time to go” when I pass them. I’m trying to make up time while also going up a pretty tough hill which doesn’t make me feel great as a pacer but I remind myself I’m not really here to make friends I’m here to finish on time. It is one of the harder parts of pacing if you like seeing people succeed at a goal. While trying to make up time I don’t want to sprint past people and pull some 9:07 miles.

Mile 8 total time is 1:12:57 but my GPS is still behind. No choice but to pick it up.  Mile 9 8:59 (1:21:56 watch) but GPs seems to be off by more than 0.05 now. Mile 10 9:02 (1:30:59) but I cross the marker about 20 seconds behind (from memory) and just can’t believe I’m still behind after what seems like I should have made that up. Mile 11 9:03 (1:40:02). It is downhill or flat for these miles and the group with me is going strong. This should be enough time. I’m still somehow behind. Mile 12 8:58 (1:49:00). I’m trying to figure out how I’ve just run 4 miles 10 seconds faster that I need to and somehow not made up enough time. Going through the 5k turn around I do quick math and realize I still need to go faster. Mile 13 8:50. Total time 1:57.51

The last ¼ mile of the race is downtown…like “casinos on both side, tourist shops, spots people take photos of themselves” downtown. I have 3 runners near me. I get pumped up and yell “WOO! HERE WE GO! 2 MINUTES!” to help keep them going to the finish. It’s worked for me as a runner in the past. We go. At 1:59:30 I can see the official clock and I have one guy with me. “30 seconds!” and he picks it up. “20 seconds” and he picks it up a little more. “10 seconds” and he must have put everything he had into it after seeing the clock. I believe I cross at 2:00:02-3 official time but I also started farther back.

1:59:46 Garmin time. 1:59:43 official time.

One thing I forgot to mention is the other pacers gave me a high 5, along with some volunteers along the course. There  was also a woman pushing her daughter in a “laydown” wheel chair. I saw her last year but the course had us on opposite sides of the road. A major reason I recognized this last year was a story I heard of Dick and Rick Hoyt. His son is quadriplegic. I thought it was awesome this lady would do this for her. When I saw her the first time I was heading back to the start and her daughter had her hand out so I gave her a high 5. When I saw the women after I finished the race I said “didn’t you run this last year?” to which she replied” yeah.” “I thought I saw you. Way to go.” I have no idea why her daughter is in the wheelchair, I have no idea how hard it is to be a parent of a child with a disability. I DO know it takes a lot of work to do what she did and the smile on her daughters face in the morning showed me why she did it. Her daughter can still have fun just like everyone else.

What I learned:

1. Pacing is still difficult. At least this time I didn’t get people telling me how I did it wrong. It’s a struggle to figure out a strategy for a race even if you’ve run it.
2. A plan can fall apart fast. I should have had a pace band with me and corrected the auto lap at mile 4 when I noticed something was off. This happen and you can’t hold on to them.
3. Having total time, lap pace, and average pace were good to have. Each has their place and adjusting pace was easier than running by feel.
4. Free beer at the end of a race is always fun. Rowdy bars are pretty tasty. My wife gets upset when she finds out I had tasty snacks and I don’t share them or bring her some.
5. Desert Sky Adventures continues to put on quality events. Races start on time. There are announcements of what race is starting. Courses are marked at each mile with turn around markers. Police are happy and very good with handling traffic for this race. Never once did I think a car might pull out in front of me, or another racer.
6. Races have water and “other”. “Other” means Gatorade, electrolyte, or tailwind. This race had tailwind. I know what tailwind is but not every racer does so aid stations get to answer questions about what they’re serving regardless of the number of notifications a race sends out.
7. Seeing the people at the end of the race and putting a smile on their face can make a difference in your own day. I did my cool down along the course encouraging runners I’d typically never see. It seemed to help them in the last mile.
8. The streak is alive. Hopefully next year I’ll get to pace and I can do so much smoother having now paced the race.

Brew - I will admit that the abbreviations and everything else took some time to get used to. JD has two apps floating around whatever app store you use, one a training calendar and another a VDOT calculator. Just plug a recent race time into the calculator and it'll give you your VDOT along with paces for each workout type, and the corresponding 200/400 split times. Makes everything much easier. I put my workouts in the Garmin Connect calendar, so each day when I started up the watch it would prompt me to do whatever workout was on tap. It all ended up being much more straightforward that I had initially though it would.
Just saw the RR hit Strava. Off to read!

Ilana - I like the deer/strides thing, too! I wonder if it's catching on a bit on Strava. The other day I was just flipping through runs by a separate Strava group I'm part of and saw someone else had done the same thing.

I just noticed that the local fast guy (the only one outside 2x HS kids) finished with a chip time within 20 seconds or so of DWave. Who knows if they started close together, though.

Everyone, thanks for all the race time input so far. I know the course very well, and weather permitting I think I'm going to be really aggressive with it considering how this cycle has gone so far. Geez, I can't believe I'm actually going to attempt something that fast.

 

Wow, that's interesting. On average people actually performed better this year than last.

 

Brew - We will be on a very similar schedule for the fall marathon (I'm running October 21) with both of us doing a JD program. Are you going with the 2Q program? And are you doing anything to prepare before the program starts? My plan is to run through JD's 6 week progression of Rep workouts in the weeks leading up to the 18-week training plan.  I think I will need that to build some leg strength for the workouts as the program kicks off with 8 miles at m-pace immediately followed by 1 mile t-pace.

 

Keen - I like your attitude for the HM! How do you feel the JD program has been working so far?

I keep going back and forth on what plan I'll use. If I do JD I'd probably aim for 70 mpw. If I do Hanson's again it peaks at 64. I like Hansons simply because it has the entire schedule planned. Long runs, easy runs, etc. JD allows me to make my own schedule. The 2Q workouts are very similar to the Hanson's advanced. One day speed, one day strength/threshold. Hanson's worked well and I could hit 70 mpw just extending the warm up and cool down. JD already starts their workouts on Sunday and one mid week. This MIGHT be easier but I could do it with Hanson's if I wanted to. Honestly it's more of a concern of doing the workouts on Wednesday/Thursday but I need to assure myself my wife is okay with me being gone after work for that long again. The 2Q plan is the easiest one for me to gravitate to because it's the same as Hansons as well. I'm a little afraid of going away from Hansons though since they have a schedule with TRX workouts but I'm sure I could follow the advice given here plenty of times. Workout on easy days (probably early morning or late night), don't workout on hard days, figure out what works and if my hard days are suffering TRX has to get moved.

EDIT: Thinking about it during my warm up, the many approaches of JD can't exactly be compared to Hansons. Hanson's peaks around 64 and a low of about 40 (62% of peak) whereas JD only drops to 80%. JD has more options (time or miles/km) whereas Hanson does specific mileage and allows you to add easy miles. Hanson's has Tuesday/Thursday workouts which would probably require more time than JD simply because I could do Sunday workouts in the morning/afternoon. Hanson's has shorter recovery for the speed work and is heavy on the threshold/marathon pace workouts. I PR'd CIM, and weekly mileage, with Hanson's so it's easy to point to it for success. I have about 6 weeks before I'd probably need to have my program picked. Either way it's going to require LOTS of fast running, painful running, comfortably hard running, and lonely running. The more and more I try and read JD the more I understand the training which starts to suck me in knowing it's technically 1 day during the week I need to be away from home for 2 hours after work. NeRP HOPEFULLY will be more manageable in June when training should start for Chicago which I use to convince myself will justify/allow me to be gone for one day a week. My wife already knows I aim to 3:07 and get in for 4/20/20 in October. I'm not going to lie, I'm a little scared/intimidated/whatever you call it/etc. about going there and pulling out a 5 minute PR after not being serious about running since probably early December 2016.

 

Wow, that's interesting. On average people actually performed better this year than last.

I think you can't compare the two.

On a hot year, you can decide just to jog the whole thing for run.  Or start, then change your mind and jog it in with walk breaks.

That wasn't an option yesterday.  If you started the race, you had to run it reasonably hard to stay warm - this was not a day you could just jog it in.  You either ran it hard or dropped.

Nice report, DW. That third layer really illustrates the ridiculousness of this hobby.

Congrats to everyone else who finished, or even started.

Finally getting around to posting my week. The highlight is probably my 65 laps at the local track on Sunday. I tried for marathon pace from miles 9-16, but after just one mile, I realized I couldn't quite hold it and settled for more like 7:30. Closed out the 65th lap with a 95, though.

When I checked my heart rate afterward, I thought my watch must have malfunctioned. About 16 miles at an average of 30 seconds slower than GMP, and it was only 144? But when I look at the graph, everything seems in order. That's encouraging!

Brew - I know we've discussed this before, but pacing looks awesome and I want to do that some day. I'm taking the same streak approach to my little HM in north Texas - I got in on the first running and want to keep it up just because - bonus points that it is pretty well positioned as a tune-up for most fall marathons in my general area.
Nice write-up. I've never heard of a race offering a drink other than water or gatorade/powerade.

Clever - LR on a track? yikes! I'd almost rather do one on the treadmill just so I wasn't always going around those left turns. HR looks nice and consistent - and I'm guessing that's a bit below the top of Z2 for you. Pretty good for not-quite-marathon-pace.

brew- yeah, 19:20 would be another PR, but track is faster than road and i do think i'm more fit than i was a month ago. and haha, my track workouts are always with a big group and with buddies around my pace in a very energizing setting. (and we only have two workouts that are 20+ laps, and those are for marathon training so i haven't done them since the fall.) this race was the opposite - racing solo, hot track, 5? spectators. needed to have it together in legs AND head and i didn't.
re. almost missing the start - ironic, bc the spectating teammate we were chatting with has run  probably 20 super competitive (like, under 16 minutes) 5000m races in her life and there we were getting ready for our first one and maybe she should have pointed us to the start line over at the 200m mark :P forgot that the race started there.