RACE REPORT: Alston-Bird Corporate Cup Half Marathon

It's not the race I wanted to run (that would have been Roanoke Canal Half Marathon). It was a week early (I was supposed to run a Half on 3/13). I felt lousy in training all week. I knew going in that this was a hilly race, run partially on a course where the hills had gotten the better of me.

...And that's why running the best Half I've ever run felt that much sweeter.

Here's how it all unfolded:

Road Trip

I took Leopold with me to this race because 1) he wanted to go, and 2) Saturday School sucks. Any excuse to get him out of that was welcome. We left the house at about 4:20 a.m., with Leopold asleep in the back seat in his pj's with his favorite blanket and his stuffed dog, Rex. The trip was boring, but easy. We arrive at Wachovia Atrium at 6:30 as planned. First sign of good things to come: FREE parking that was literally at the start of the race.

Race #1: Global Ass, My Warming 6.66

Second sign of good things to come: PERFECT weather for the Global AssWarming, My Ass Virtual Race. Which makes perfect sense, given the weather and race gods' quirky senses of humor. As we lined up, it was clear, cold and sunny, with a slight breeze. As the National Anthem began to play, the Olympics popped into my head, and I began imagining what it would feel like to be Apolo Ohno (or anyone) on the podium, winning gold (or any medal). Suddenly, my eyes began to fill with tears....OMG! I caught myself. Cry after the race. Not before. Rules to live by.

4,3,2,1...Go!

That's how they started it. Kind of lame, but whatever. So, we're off. Third sign of good things to come: iPod malfunction. I had planned to only use music on the hills, if I needed it. However, my new ear buds immediately began to pop out of my ears repeatedly, forcing me to wad them up and shove them down my bra. At mile 4 the wires were hanging down at my knees - a total shocker because I didn't think anything was capable of getting out of that barricade. I couldn't really see carrying the earbuds the entire way, so I ditched them.

The first (and only) annoying race experience came right at the beginning, with a guy who set his Garmin to beep (read: shriek) if he wasn't running in his pace zone. About every 10-15 seconds a loud shrill BEEEEEEP cut through the air. 15 minutes of that had me ready to shake him by his lapels (if he had had lapels) and scream, "Will you either SPEED UP or SLOW DOWN so we don't have to be subjected to that incessant SCREECHING?" I would never do that. I'm just sayin'.

After getting away from said guy, I tuned in to how I was feeling. At mile 3 I remember thinking I felt... fine. The hills were rolling, and I just kept telling myself, even effort. Even effort. Don't look at your watch, just run an even effort. In the early miles, I had a definite sense of going downhill -overall, and via rolling hills.

Mile 1 - 8:56

Mile 2 - 8:36

Mile 3 - 8:56

5K - 27:15

Mile 4 was all downhill and it felt good. I was tempted to speed up, but decided to wait until mile 6 or 7 before making any decisions. Mile 5 happened to be mile 18 of the Thunder Road Marathon- a steep climb that drops down to crowds cheering you on. It was the point in the marathon where I slowed the most, and knew the rest of the race was going to be about hanging on. I remember seeing Phil and Leopold here, Leopold with his adorable sign, and wishing I was running better than I was. Not today. Today, Charlotte, I own this hill. In fact, I'm making it my personal mission to own every hill in this race today.

Mile 4 - 8:16

Mile 5 - 9:19

Mile 6 - 8:55

10K - 53:49

6.66 - 57:02

I never talk to people during races, but I struck up a conversation with a guy in a black tracksuit. He first got my attention because I glanced over at him and I thought he seemed over-dressed. I also thought his coloring seemed bad- like someone about t have a heart attack. We had virtually been running side by side for 3 miles, so it just seemed rude not to say something. I also realized had I been wearing the iPod, I would've missed this opportunity altogether- something I thought more about later on. Tracksuit guy had driven down from Winston-Salem to run the race, and was commenting on how hilly it was. Without thinking, I mentioned the largest hill came at mile 12. Catching myself, I said (lamely) "But you'll be ready for it- you're doing great." Jeez. Then he asked me what time I thought I'd finish in. I said, "I don't know. Somewhere between 1:54 - 1:58. I hope." He was like, "Wow! My best Half was a couple of years ago, and I ran it in 2:03." Rut Raggy? Now this time I keep my mouth shut, but I was thinking, "Dude- why are you running a hilly course at a pace 6 minutes better than your best?"

An hour in, and I had the Global Warming, My Ass Virtual Race under my belt. Nice. Now, to finish this mutha. At mile 7, I still felt good, but I realized that I also felt good at 7 during my last two HM's, and I blew up at Mile 10 in both of those. I decided to be conservative, and stay put with my pace. If I was this good at mile 10, I'd start kicking it home.

.

Mile 7 - 8:42

Mile 8 - 8:42

Mile 9 - 8:41

Mile 10 - 9:00

Going in to mile 11, I decided to speed up if I could, realizing that just to maintain the current pace would feel harder. I started setting my sights on any female that looked like she might be in my age group. I was passing people, and working hard. I was having a good race, and it felt really good to be having a good race. It's the most unusual feeling- misery and happiness all rolled together. As I reeled in a girl I'd had my sights on, I heard her tell her friend, "I'm not totally miserable yet, but I'm really feeling it." You and me both, sistah. Race. On.

Mile 11 - 8:55

Now It's A Party

Mile 12. It was finally here. If I was going to blow up, it was going to happen on the biggest hill. I kept my eyes down to avoid the sight of the long, long hill that was mile 12. Dig deep, do not walk, just get this done. What I remember most about mile 12 was that it had these over-sized speed bumps interspersed throughout. Like the hill itself wasn't bad enough, they had to throw in mini-hills, too. People, please.

As I crested the hill at 12.6 miles, I was about done. At mile 13, there's a slight downhill grade, then you make the turn onto College Street to finish. As I turned on to College, I saw the finish line waaaaay down there- I couldn't even read the clock- and started to give it all I had left. Suddenly... I am peeing myself. OMG. I am peeing and I can't stop it. It's running down my leg! I look around to see who might be looking at me, and I think: I am never going to see these people again. Go for it. I finished strong, thinking Best. Race. Ever. It can't be one for the books until you've lost control of your bladder.

Mile 12 - 9:23

Mile 13 - 9:11

.10 - 1:31

Garmin Time for 13.1 - 1:56:28

Clock Time for 13.32 - 1:58:03

BONUS: Leopold's Race Report

4:00: Get up

4:02: Sleep in back of car until 6:00

.

6:00: Play game while mom gets race number

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6:12-8:00:Wait in atrium until race starts

8:00: Watch race start and go to atrium to wait for mom to finish

8:14: Get brilliant idea to go up and down escalators.

9:22: Get tired of escalators

9:24: Get idea to go wrong way on escalators and stay in place

9:25: Try to execute idea but get too scared

.

9:37: Try idea and have lots of fun

10:00: Meet mom at finish

11:15: Watch awards

11:35: Go home

Post Thunder Road Thoughts

Check out this video of Thunder Road I received from the race director, Tim Rhodes, today. Pretty cool. It's too bad you miss all this kind of stuff when you're actually running in the race...

So, I didn't run the time I thought I was capable of this last Saturday, but I'm hard pressed to feel disappointed. I came away with a much better understanding of what is needed in my training to improve my times. (Need I say it? More TEMPO and MP miles).

What really strikes me is how different this effort was compared to Buffalo.

With Buffalo, I felt great up until Mile 21. The last 6 miles were really dreadful, but far more tough mentally than physically tough. I felt really emotional about the inability to keep pushing at a decent pace, and I recall that once I saw the finish line in Buffalo, I pretty much was able to sprint it in.

In Charlotte, I endured far more pain than I did in Buffalo. It's what I'm most proud of. In this race, I never felt "great". I felt normal in the early miles, with fatigue setting in more and more as the miles clipped by. I felt more fatigued than I thought I should have been at Mile 14, and I was very fatigued at Mile 16. The final 8 miles were all about coping through increasing discomfort and pain. In hindsight, I think this is how it should feel, if you are running close to what you can do. The trick is to train so that your fuel will last through to the end.

The final 3 miles of Charlotte were worse than anything I experienced in Buffalo. I could not make my body go faster than a slow, slow jog at the end, even with my family, the crowds and the clock right in front of me.

The recoveries from these races are completely different as well. With Buffalo, I remember I walked the 2 miles back to my hotel. I was sore for the next 7-10 days, and was not able to think about running or racing for the next 3-4 weeks. When I did start back running, I noticed that any effort too hard or long pushed me past my reserves fairly quickly. This time, I was in excruciating pain upon finishing. My hip flexors locked up, and it was pure torture to walk the 1 measley block back to my hotel. However, about an hour later, I was getting around pretty well. Although my quads were beat, I felt pretty normal. The biggest difference is that mentally, I think I was ready to try again pretty much upon finishing Charlotte.

It's 6 days later. I'm back to running normally, doing a 2-week reverse taper. More importantly, I feel as inspired as ever to train and race. I look forward to the next 2 weeks, where I'll make some modifications to my training based on what I've learned recently, and start the 12-week countdown to the Wimberly-BQ Smack Down.

Charlotte Marathon Race Planning: Part II

It came out of nowhere, and it was totally unexpected - I had a great run last night. It was just your average 9 mile base pace run, but the mental and emotional place I ended up on the other side of that run is more important to me than all my key workout performances of this training cycle combined.

As I set out last night, I expected to feel some residual fatigue. Although my mileage was reduced from 80 to 55 last week, the quality of each run seemed to increase, wiping out my ability to feel the "rest" effect. Instead of fatigue, however, I felt something else as I began to run - a stabbing pain in my butt (piriformis?) on the left side, and a very tight/ sore left quadricep (hip flexor?). Instant alarm bells! Down the mental road of injury I went, full speed ahead, exploring every avenue of disaster this new information brought.

A mental eternity later (equivalent to about 2-3 seconds in real time), I decided to just relax and let the soreness work itself out. I made a special effort to set all thought aside (yeah, good luck with that! my brain screamed) and just run. About a half mile later, I realized that although I was sore, and there were definitely some issues going on that needed my attention, I felt really strong. Not the first couple miles of a run strong, and not the fake, caffeine-induced kind of strength, but something far more substantial and personal. Like I was tapping into a deep, limitless even, reservoir of strength. It felt as if my body had absorbed all the recent hard training, become stronger for it, and was giving me a preview of what it had done for me. Look, it said, you are ready to go.

The ironic thing is that earlier yesterday I had gone through the steps to determine if I was ready to attempt to BQ at Charlotte, and wisely (I thought) had decided I was in fact not ready. I came to this conclusion based not on what my workouts were saying, because they say I'm ready to run at 8:48 pace, but on the "other factors" that go into running an ideal race. Experience, confidence, the course, the weather, etc. I concluded that it would be smarter, and I'd feel less pressure, if I kept the "sub-4 hour" goal and the "BQ" goal for different races. Don't get me wrong, I still think this is a "smart" move, but it feels theoretical, and so just like with all things that seem "good in theory", some part of me will continue to doubt it until it's proven.

During last night's run, I realized my true race strategy: I have to honor my training. I can't ignore the months of work I have put specifically into this race. I can't ignore the wisdom I've gained, both mentally and physically, from the training process. My body is trained. It knows how to do this. I have to honor that. My brain is just along for the ride--and quite frankly if I could leave it home on race day, I would.

This means that I am not running this race for a sub- 4:00 finish time. It means I am running the race that my body is prepared to run, and I have tried my best to prepare it to finish in 3:50. But I won't force that finishing time upon myself. if I try to force my body into running the race my mind wants to run it will backfire (see: Rutledge Half Marathon Race Report). I have to trust that my body knows what it's doing and understand that the finishing time is an output of that trust.

So my race day strategy will be to start off somewhere between the 3:45 and 4:00 pace groups.
The first couple of miles will be slowest, at about 9:06. Then I plan to ease into 8:56's, and hit my target pace of 8:48 for miles 10-17. The last six miles will be whatever I've got left. If I can run the final 10K in just under 54 minutes, I should come home in 3:50 and change.

While out there my biggest challenge (I hope) will be sticking to the pace plan through 18 miles. It will feel too slow in the early going....but it isn't. Any faster and I'll pay a big price later in the race. I know that no matter how many times I hear that and think I understand it, it's still very easy to be seduced into starting out faster than I should on race morning. It's so easy to run the first half of a marathon 10-20 seconds/mile....or more....faster than you should and die in the last 6 miles. That's definitely what happened to me at Buffalo, specifically from mile 13-18.

So that is my game plan: honor what I have trained myself to do by letting me do it. It's simple really, but it takes lots of discipline to execute. Game on.

Week 21 & 22: Training Update

ORN [Obligatory Running Note]: Rest day today.

I have fallen behind with the Weekly Training Updates. Hmm.. Let's see, your last update was Week 18. I no longer remember Week 19, and Week 20 was a race week. So that brings us to Weeks 21 and the just-completed Week 22. That just sounds like a whole lot of weeks, doesn't it? 24 weeks...I mean, really. What you could do with 24 weeks sounds like a blogpost all unto itself.

The real status update is that not counting today and race day, we're just 11 days from race day. ...Or in Clock of Doom speak, "11 days, 23 hours, 5 minutes, and 7 seconds left until Thunder Road Marathon on Dec. 12, 2009". The 10-day countdown begins tomorrow, and you know what that means... I'll officially be a head case.

But first, some catching up. Here's the numbers for the last two weeks. (Of Note- My first 80-mile week!):

WEEK 21

• Total weekly mileage: 80
• Average Intensity Factor: .801
• Total Hours: 15:20
• Long run: 24 miles
• Miles run on trail/ dirt: <10
• Average Weight: No way was I getting on the scale
• Average % body fat: Still praying for 18%
• Average Hours sleep: 7.5
  

WEEK 22

• Total weekly mileage: 55.5
• Average Intensity Factor: .894
• Total Hours: 12
• Long run: 17.5 miles (13 mi. marathon pace run)
• Miles run on trail/ dirt: none
• Average weight: I have stopped weighing myself (I less mental breakdown)
• % body fat: whatever
• Average hrs. of sleep: 7.0

While Week 21 was a physical and emotional train wreck, Week 22 was its polar opposite. (What the polar opposite of a train wreck exactly is, though, I'm not sure).

The good news is that I ROCKED every "key" workouts this week. Check it out:

Mixed Intervals w/ 2-minute recovery? Check.

• 2 miles @ half marathon pace (16:31)
• 1.24 miles @ 10K pace (9:40)
• 1 x 1 mile @ 5K pace (7:51)
• 1 x 800M @ 3,000M pace (3:14)

Cruise Intervals? No problem. Check out these mile splits for 2 x 4.5 mi. @ Half Marathon pace:

• 8:18
• 8:06
• 8:19
• 8:25
• 1/2 mile recovery jog
• 8:15
• 8:20
• 8:18
• 8:20

13 Mile Marathon Pace Run? Signed, Sealed, and Delivered.

• 8:48
• 8:53
• 10:39 huh?
• 9:06
• 8:43
• 8:49
• 8:44
• 9:04
• 8:41
• 8:55
• 8:38
• 9:04
• 8:47

So, with my race coming up in less than 2 weeks, all I can really say is that I am ready to set forth my race goals, and I'm very optimistic I can run a good race. And yet again, I've learned some valuable lessons during my training this go 'round that will make me a better and stronger runner in the future. Perhaps someday-- even if it's not for another 20 years-- I'll finally fit together all the pieces of the puzzle and run the perfect race.
Patience, grasshopper.

A New Perspective On Hills

ORN [Obligatory Running Note]: Scheduled for later today: Cruise Intervals @ Half Marathon pace. 13.5 miles total. (2 miles warm up, 2 x 4.5 miles at 8:17 pace with 1/2 mile recovery in between. 2 miles cool down).

So, I'm here at work, settling in to Friday (and by settling in to Friday I mean catching up with all the running blogs I follow, posting my FRIDAY FUNNY, planning my long run, and oh, yeah! getting down to some serious work, D!). Anyways, I scan FootRX's blog (which by the way is getting better and better), and happily came across a race update for Aaron Saft, local running hero and serious, serious nice guy (in fact, if I weren't already stalking Ritz, Aaron would be in my sights for sure!). Here it is:

USAT&F Trail Marathon Championships

On Nov. 7th, Aaron Saft raced the Lithia Loop Trail Marathon in Ashland, OR, which served as the USAT&F Trail Marathon National Championships. The race climber 3800' in the first 8 miles up to 5000+' of elevation. The race continued for 12 miles above 5000' and was snowing at that elevation. At 20 miles, the race descended 3000' for the last 6 miles. Max King of Bend, OR won the race in 2:40 after placing 19th the previous weekend in the New York City Marathon in a stellar time of 2:19. Sam Robinson of Berkley, CA was 2nd in 2:42 followed in 3rd by Aaron in 2:48. Fourth place was Coach Greg McMillan (first Masters) in 2:54, & fifth was Jim Johnson of NH. A beautiful course & Hal Koerner & Ian Torrence did a great job of putting on a great event!

On a side note, Aaron got to meet Erik Skaggs, who we sent donations to
after his kidney failure from racing the Where's Waldo 100k. Erik is doing great! He sends his thanks for the donations. Erik is happy to be back to running. Thank you to all who contributed.

A couple of things strike me:

First, as always, what a fantastic runner Aaron is. He's such a humble guy that I am sure most people who meet him through the store are unaware of his great accomplishments in the sport. If he lived in L.A., he would no doubt be unable to avoid the rockstar status he deserves.

Second (secondly?), did you read the part that said, "The race continued for 12 miles above 5000' and was snowing at that elevation. At 20 miles, the race descended 3000' for the last 6 miles"? I am in the midst of agonizing over my race plan for Thunder Road, and as you might have guessed after my last race report, I'm really troubled by the hills in Charlotte. So, thanks Aaron for the new perspective on hills. Apparently, I don't even know what a hill is.

Elevation profile for Lithia Loop Trail Marathon:



Elevation profile for Charlotte's Thunder Road Marathon:


In summary, Lithia Loop Trail Marathon eats Thunder Road Marathons for breakfast. It makes Charlotte's course seems like an airport tarmac in comparison. The takeaway: there's always a bigger hill.