Sea Rim Striders Summer Series Run #4

Sea Rim Striders Summer Series Run #4 at the Gulf Terrace Hike & Bike Trail. Huge turnout of local runners, had to be well over 250.  Hot running-- still 90F plus at 7 PM, but it's nice to run with all the local runners.  I figure if I don't push the pace too much, I can't get too overheated in a half-hour. Time: 31:09 by the clock, 31:12 by Garmin.  Mile splits: 8:57, 8:56, 8:52, 0.5 mile @8:54.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/95368869

Sea Rim Striders Summer Series Run #3

Sea Rim Striders Summer Series Run #3-- a nice 5K course in Claiborne Park. My legs were a little tired, this was a sixth consecutive day of running, and I also ran 5 miles in the early morning.    A brief rain on an already hot, humid afternoon left it feeling really steamy.  I ran the previous week's 2 miler at race pace, but took this one easier,  pushed it a little for the conditions, but held back from race pace. Basically, a 5K tempo run: 8:47, 8:42, 8:41, 0.12 mile @8:37. Nice to visit with local runners again this week.

Sea Rim Striders Summer Series Run #2

The local running club, the Sea Rim Striders has a series of weekly summer runs at 7 PM on Monday evenings.  They rotate between area parks, and are all short distances appropriate to the warm weather, between 2 and 3.5 miles.  These are fun runs, but some run them pretty competitively, just like an official race.  Clock timing, no chip timing; there's a big digital timer at the finish line.  I missed the first of the runs, but this was the second.

A nice short run at Tyrell Park. Just a 2 miler, second of the SRS Summer Series. Splits: 8:26, 8:04. Always good to be able to visit with a lot of local runners that I know.  Pretty hot running, still near 90 degrees at 7 PM, but a good breeze helped, and humidity was only about 50%. Good attendance-- 227 turned out!
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/92282736

Race Review - Samson Lonestar 5K Saturday, 14 May, 2011

Samson Lone Star 5K at the Gulf Terrace Hike & Bike Trail .

New best 5K time - 24:45. 16th place overall, 3rd place, male 41 and over age group.

On the way out...

I don't usually race from mid-May through the end of September in SE Texas, because it's usually just way too warm and humid. A freakishly late cool front came through Friday, leaving low humidity and a beautiful 55 degree Saturday morning. Friday evening after seeing the weather forecast, I decided on the spur of the moment to run this 5K event, and I'm glad I did. Finished 16th overall, and 3rd in the male 41 and above age group. Clock time was 24:45, 40 seconds better than my previous best 5K. Garmin time was 24:50. Mile splits were 8:02, 8:00, 8:02, 0:46 (0.1 mile @7:25). Finished into a fairly strong north wind.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/85518243

Finish!

PR - Sea Rim Striders Spring 5K - March 26, 2011

Sea Rim Striders Spring 5K - 25:25, 8:12 pace. 19th place out of 109.
Garmin data and map: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/75139878
Results: http://www.searimstriders.net/results/2011-Spring5K-OV.html

PR? At first, I thought I'd missed it by a few seconds. I didn't remember the exact seconds of my best time, but remembered 8:14 as my PR pace. Garmin showed my average at 8:17. I finished this race 25:25 by the clock, 25:27 by Garmin. After I got home, I looked up my previous best time and found it was 25:34. So, if the course distance was an accurate 3.1 miles, this was a PR. Garmin showed the distance 3.07, which may be within expected measurement variation of 3.1. I'm going to claim it.

At first, I had no intention of going for it. At the starting line, I told my friend Jeremy that with a still tweaky knee and only two weeks of marathon recovery, I was going to treat this as just a "fun run." But after starting out, I felt too good to not give it a try. I think it really helped to do a slow, longer warmup pre-race.

I normally warm up with 4 or 5 minutes of easy jogging.  That's enough to warm up, but not enough to expend a significant amount of energy needed in the race itself.  However I found recently that my knee responds better with a slower, more gradual warmup, and I modified my aproach slightly.  I just warmed up from a walk to a brisk walk to a slow jog to an easy run pace. About 12 minutes of walking, 3 minues of jogging and 2 minutes of running.  Total warmup: 1.2 miles - 17 minutes.

The Gusher Marathon - March 12, 2011

The Gusher Marathon - 26.2 miles - 5:13:27
Garmin data and map: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/72660419
Results: http://www.iaapweb.com/results/11/03_12_2011_marathon.htm#55-59%20Male

When I hurt my knee during this cycle of marathon training, I drastically changed my expectations.  At first, I thought I'd have to drop out of this race.  I took most of two weeks off from running, during what should have been peak training weeks.  During several of the final training weeks, I trained lighter than normal, substituting cycling minutes for some of my running miles.  It was a trade-off.  If I rested enough to heal completely, I'd have been so undertrained that I'd have no chance of lasting the distance.  If I tried to run my scheduled training miles, my knee would have been in no shape to run at all.  So I tried to strike a balance between the two, and revise my goal downward from PR to simply finishing.  However, the best the balanced approach could yield was to get me to race day both slightly undertrained and underhealed.

As I feared, this race got ugly, was 28 minutes longer than last year's marathon PR, but at least was a finish. Although my knee had made great improvement in the preceding weeks, I knew going in that I was undertrained and not 100% healed. I had almost no pain on my last few training runs, but the runs were short, and that allowed me to deceive myself into thinking the knee was farther along than it was. I even had a few taper-induced delusions of a possible PR. I'd considered possible pacing scenarios, and thought I might be able to comfortably average around 10:30 pace through the halfway point, and assess the situation from there. Even if I had to back off to the low 11's after that, it would be possible to finish a few seconds under last year's effort. The first half went pretty well, but the knee started getting a little sore around 12 miles, and got worse from there. I still managed to keep on track for a possible PR through about 18 miles.  It all came apart at about 18 ½, and by 19, a PR possibility was gone and it was just a matter of survival. I walked more than I ran in miles 19 through 21, got a small second wind around 22, and found a slow jog pace that made the knee hurt less than either running or walking. This pace, plus a few short walk breaks, brought me home. Coming around the final bend, I pulled together what little I had left, and tried to hit the finish chute looking better than I felt. It wasn't pretty, but I'll take it.

Ironically, even with my relatively slow finish, I later found that I'd taken a 3rd place age group trophy.  Only 5 men in my age group ran, and I at least finished before two of them!

The mile 26 sign was such a welcome sight!

After the finish, with two local running friends, Dailymilers Will and Jeremy Fermo. 

Race Review - Resolution Run 5K

Resolution Run 5K Run
3.26 miles,  27:19, 8:23 pace

Nice local 5K to start the new year. 27:19 clock time/27:23 Garmin time. Finished 38th overall, won't know the number of the field until web posting later. The event's Facebook page says "about 160" No PR, 1:45 behind my best. Saw local dailymilers Tammy H., Shauna A., William F.(running barefoot!), Jeremy F.(in VFF's), and John F. Perfect temps for running, low 50's and low humidity, although north wind was gusting to almost 30 mph. Stayed ahead of PR pace through 2 miles, but finishing into strong headwind made for a slower finish. Splits were upside down, as the turn into the headwind started at 1.55 miles.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/61408059

Race Review - Swamp Stomp Half Marathon, Lake Charles, LA

Swamp Stomp Half Marathon - 13.1 miles - 2:04:19 (9:29 pace)

This was a tough run. I didn't quite make my sub-2 hour goal, but it was still an official PR. Slightly disappointing, considering I ran four trial halfs in training between 1:52 and 1:58, but the trials were all in 30 to 50 degree temps, and today's weather brought unseasonably warm and humid mid 70 temps with gusty south winds.


I actually feel pretty good about the results, probably the best this day could yield for me. Unlike Thanksgiving Day’s 10K fiasco when I went out way too fast and crashed early, I think I had a reasonable pace strategy. I wanted to ease into it it, find a good rhythm and build gradually, averaging about 9:00 pace. My plan was to run the first mile at 9:30, the second mile at 9:15, the third at 9:00, and cruise the rest of the way between 8:50 and 9:00. I stuck to the plan fairly well through 8 miles, but could never quite find that sub-9:00 cruising zone. Splits through 8 were 9:28, 9:16, 9:02, 9:04, 8:57, 9:04, 9:05, 9:07. From there, it got ugly. and my goal became just holding on enough to finish without walking. Miles 9 through 12 were: 9:32, 10:06, 10:59, and 10:50. I tried to pull together what I had left at the beginning of 13, but my left calf cramped when I pushed too much, and all I could manage was 9:32 the rest of the way.

Overall, it was a good event in a beautiful setting. I met up with local dailymilers Tammy H, Shauna A, Jeremy F, and WiIlliam F.

Race Report - Turkey Trot 10K Race

(Early in the race.  I'm just over the left shoulder of #469)

20th Annual Turkey Trot 10K at Tyrell Park - 6.2 miles, 56:53, 09:10 minutes/mile pace

I had high hopes for setting a new 10K PR at this year's Turkey Trot.  My best existing official 10K time was 54:29 (8:47 pace), at this event in 2009.  In general, my running is stronger and quicker than last year.  Based on my October and November training runs, I really expected to be able to finish at around 52 minutes, or 8:20 pace.

No PR was to be had on this day.   Firstly, I do not run my best in warm weather.  The average temperature for all of my runs in November was about 53 degrees (F).  However, temperature for this race was unseasonably warm, in the mid-70s, very humid, and windy. When I ran well in this race in 2009, it was 39 degrees.  Huge difference. By mid way, I'd even pulled my shirt of to try to stay cooler.

I can't blame the results entirely on the weather, either.  I didn't run a smart race tactically.  As my longer runs have increased in length, 6.2 miles feels like a fairly short run.  I went into this race overconfident, and didn't respect the distance or the weather.  I didn't employ a pace strategy at all, went out WAY too fast for the weather, and burned out early.  My mile splits were: 7:44, 8:17, 9:15, 10:14, 10:07, 9:31, 1:43 (0.2).

This was still a great local event, with over 850 runners this year, a record turnout. I got to meet up with local dailymilers Jeremy F, William F, Tammy H, Evan A, Tara C, Daniel F. And still much to be grateful for on this day.

Deer Fly Festival 25K Trail Run

Race Review:  Deer Fly Festival 25K Trail Run, Saturday, October 2, 2010, Sam Houston Jones State Park, Lake Charles LA

15.53 Miles, 3:02:29, 11:14/mile pace.

It felt totally great to run this awesome course on this awesome day!

I planned for this run down to the last detail. I started hydrating heavily Thursday evening, and continued throughout Friday. I loaded up on carbs. I rested the legs for two days prior, and I'm so glad I did. This course took about all I had to give. I practiced my yoga both morning and evening on Friday, finishing the evening session just before going to bed, feeling totally loose and ready. I mixed and bottled my gatorade the night before and had my hydration belt and cooler packed and ready to go. I laid out my running clothes and shoes, and set my alarm for 4:30 AM, figuring I needed to leave about 5:30 for a 7AM start. Lots of great planning, and I only missed one tiny detail. When I set the alarm time, I forgot to flip the switch to "alarm." I woke up Saturday morning, looked at the clock, and saw "5:13." I scrambled out of bed, got a quick bowl of cereal, grabbed my gear, and got out about 15 minutes late. It worked out OK; I got to the starting line about 7:05, and the race had not quite started.

This was a very enjoyable event, on a perfect morning, 58 °F with low humidity. It was staged at Sam Houston Jones State Park, just outside of the Lake Charles/Westlake, Louisiana area. Part of the charm of the event is that it was an unofficial, unadvertised race. Very relaxed and friendly atmosphere. No sign up forms or fees. Costs a dollar to get into the park. Runners just find out about the race by word of mouth, and attendance grows a little every year. The race organizer, local runner Duane Lewis, measures the route very accurately with a wheel counter, and marks the course clearly. Although there are no entry fees, Duane even buys finisher’s medals.

The park is beautiful, and the course is great and very technically challenging. I was surprised by just how challenging it is, containing one feature I wasn’t prepared for: hills—lots of them. Most of the surrounding area is fairly flat, but these trails are quite hilly. I had to train myself quite early to greatly shorten my stride on the inclines. The course goes up and down, twists and turns, and has lots of roots and uneven footing. The surface varies from hard dirt, bare or covered with leaves or pine needles, to soft sand; from deep woods where the runner has to duck under branches, to river bank. I paid close attention to footing after several near-trips on roots. After many early close calls, I decided it would be a major victory just to finish without a fall or a twisted ankle.

One of many hills!

Technical Challlenge!

I wanted to run this race mostly to enjoy the trail experience, and wasn’t worried too much about pace. I also stopped a few times to take pics. In his race info email, Duane suggested that trail conditions may knock 2 minutes off of normal pace. That sounded like a lot to me, but he knew better than I did!

I also got to run with dailymilers Jeremy F, and William F. We all plan to go back next year.

5K Run for the Kids

5K Run for the Kids, May 15, 2010, Port Neches, TX

3.1 Miles, 25:33, 8:14/mile pace,

This was a nice race, benefitting the Children's Miracle Network. Only two weeks after my recent marathon, it gave me an idea of the state of my recovery.  I really had hoped to run it at an 8-minute pace or less, but I'll take an 8:14. I ran the first mile at 7:41, the second at 8:07, but the humidity caught up with me in the last mile. This run still beats my existing 5K race PR by just over a minute. It was cloudy enough to keep the temperature around 70F, but thunderstorms came through in the early morning hours, bringing pretty high humidity.

The Gusher Marathon - Beaumont TX - May 1, 2010

How is it possible to hurt so much and feel so good at the same time?

(It was a little crowded in the early going, but thinned out considerably as the 5K and half-marathoners finished.  A little less than 200 of the 1,200 runners ran the full marathon.) 

While it felt really great and satisfying to complete a marathon, it was a brutally tough day for running. I didn't quite make my target time of 4 1/2 hours. After a series of great training runs, I thought I could probably run this one between a 10:00 to 10:30 pace. One minor detail intervened-- the weather turned warm and muggy. Most of my recent training runs were at 50 to 60 °F. The pre-dawn low this morning was 74 °F, with oppressive humidity. Light rain fell on us as we waited for the 7:30 AM start. I was prepared for the possiblity of a warm morning, as the likelyhood of cool mornings in SE TX diminishes as April turns to May.

This was not a matter of having an off day. I went out feeling great, but I soon realized that I wasn't going to be able to hold 10:00 very long, and simply had to make adjustments. Mercifully, it remained cloudy most of the morning, and it only warmed to the low 80s late in the race. It could have been much worse. We also faced 30 mph headwinds as the miles got into the 20s.

In addition, my left achilles tightened up in the early miles. It felt better by the halfway point, but was soon replaced by twinges in my right upper hamstring that continued through the second half.

In the last 10 miles, as the day warmed further, I didn't see anyone on the course that wasn't taking at least short walk breaks, myself included. I never felt like I "hit the wall," just had to catch my breath occasionally. I took my final walk break just before the final turn. That let me gather a little strength to make the final push through the finish line at about 8:42 pace. It felt much better to finish quickly than to walk or limp across!

Several unfortunate circumstances occurred during the race. At the half marathon finish, the full marathon runners continued for another lap.  Apparently, a number of marathoners were directed incorrectly, and missed a turn on the second lap, which cut two miles from their route and caused them to finish with 24 miles.  Some of the runners took an extra two mile loop to correct the distance, and some just left with 24 miles.  I had studied the route map before the race, and had run the route by the published route map during one of my training runs.  I knew the course and all of the turns, which helped me to avoid missing that critical turn.  Most runners aren't able to run a course ahead of a race, and it's really the race organization's responsibility to make the route clear.

The second problem was that about four consectutive aid stations had run out of water on the first half, and were awaiting resupply.  One or two wouldn't have been so bad, but four in a row on a warm muggy day resulted in a bad situation.  By the time I reached the fifth station, some of the rain puddles on the road were looking tempting!  I was able to recover by getting extra cups at the next few stations.  I'm sure it helped that I started hydrating heavily a week before the event.

This was a first-time marathon event in this city, and I'm sure that lessons learned will improve next year's race. 

This race gave me the chance to meet up with dailymile friends William and Jeremy F, the Fermo brothers. They both ran the full marathon. Good job, guys!

All in all, I'm reasonably satisfied with this finish under these conditions.

Finish: 4:44:38, 10:52/mile pace, 96th out of 161 overall, 5th out of 11 in age group.
Official results posted at: http://www.eztoregister.com/results/GushMara10.htm#10

My final week of training, tapering mileage up to the actual marathon, from my dailymile.com page:

Race Review - 19th Annual Turkey Trot 10K in Tyrell Park - Beaumont, TX - Thanksgiving Morning

This was an enjoyable event.  The race was well-organized and well-managed.  Race day lines were reduced because many runners used the option to pick up packets at designated locations in the two days prior to the race.  I like that they gave a tech shirt instead of a cotton T-shirt.  Race morning chip pick-up was quick and efficient. 

The 5K and 10K runners ran mostly the same route, but from different starting points, which reduced congestion.  The only improvement I could ask for would be additional mile markers.  I think I saw markers at mile 1, mile 3, and mile 6.  To get a better feel for pace, I'd like to see them at each mile. 

I halfway expected some turkey suits, but didn't see many outlandish costumes at this event.  However, this runner wore yellow boxer shorts with red chili peppers!

(Click photos to enlarge.)





This runner must have started a good running program and lost a lot of weight in the past year. 

Written on his shirt: "These are the pants I wore LAST Thanksgiving."  He was quite trim, but was wearing very large pants.

Conditions were very good, sunny and about 40°.  I probably started out a little fast, but settled down after a couple of miles.  I tried to set pace behind a couple of runners that passed me, but couldn't quite keep up.





At about 4 1/2 miles, a runner passed me that was going just slightly faster, and I was able to match his pace the rest of the way.  We traded positions 3 or 4 times coming up toward mile 6.

Thanks, anonymous runner, for helping me set a good pace!
Before turning this corner into the last quarter-mile, I had enough energy left to leave my pacer behind and sprint hard the rest of the way to the finish. 

My goals were:
To try to run <56 minutes, or 9 minute pace, to enjoy the race, and have a great time.

Why 56 minutes? I plugged my 5K PR time into the McMillan Running Calculator, and it gave me an equivalent 10K time of just under 56 minutes; I felt that was a reasonable guideline for what I should be capable of.

My actual time was 54:28.6; 8:47 pace.  And, I did enjoy the race, and had a great time!

My First Race - MD Anderson Cancer Center SCOPE 5K

March 28, 2009 – My first race, the MD Anderson Cancer Center SCOPE 5K Run, around the Houston Medical Center area. I’d been training at 5K or better daily for a few months, so the distance wasn’t an issue. My fastest 5K training times had been between 30 – 31 minutes, so my goal was to “break 30, even if it’s 29:59, just as long as it starts with a 2,” and a make a respectable finish for my age and conditioning level. I had a little scare; after registering, I thought I might miss the race with a bad plantar fasciitis flare-up in my left heel. I couldn’t run at all for two weeks, just bicycled every morning to keep loose and maintain some level of conditioning. My fault—running every day, pain or not, with no breaks; thought the pain would go away if I kept pushing and worked through it. It didn’t. Also, looking back later at my mileage log, I saw that I went from 17.75 miles/week to 25.5 miles/week, 3 weeks before my foot made me stop running. That was a 43% mileage increase; at the time I hadn't even heard of the "10% rule" yet. The week of the race, it felt a lot better; I ran Tuesday and Wednesday, still felt good, and took Thursday and Friday off so I’d have fresh legs on race day. Saturday, morning, race day—a perfect morning to run hard and make a decent time. An unseasonably late cool front came through the night before; 40 degree temperature; 30 degree wind chill with gusty North wind. Cool enough that I had to break out a light set of long sweats I thought I’d retired for the season. I felt good—well rested, fresh legs, cool weather—fell into a comfortable pace on the first mile a little behind a man around my age who seemed to be running a little better than my routine pace. Coming up to the Mile 1 aid station, they were calling out times as people passed by. Two men, probably late-thirtyish, running a good pace, passed me on the left. As I passed the aid station, I heard “8:39” and thought, “Hey, I may have a shot at a pretty good time.” (I’d calculated that I’d need to average 9:40 minutes/mile to break 30.) I passed my first-mile pacer and fell in behind the thirtyish pair for the second mile. Coming up on the Mile 2 aid station, the thirtyish pair was fading a little. The station attendant called out “16:47.” I passed the thirtyish pair. Still felling good, I was able to pass 3 or 4 more people in the third mile. Rounding the last turn and seeing the finish line, I had enough left to sprint home. I finished at 26:41.1, 8.61 minutes/mile pace, 86th out of 285. I guess everything came together right; the cool weather, fresh, rested legs, and the adrenaline rush from the competition. Now I'm totally hooked!  Link To Results