Monthly Archives: March 2009
March's Madness
What’s in a month? A foot of snow; record lows; record highs; the season’s first lawn mowing; my baby rolling over; my baby eating rice cereal; my dog getting a bath; and a visit from the in-laws.
What’s in a month? Two races I’ve well documented; 70 total running miles; 11.8 walking miles; 20.7 biking miles; and 7.1 “other” miles on the elliptical. Total miles: 109.6.
Sure enough, March has been a mad (in a good way) month. It’s been fantastic in my eyes, especially when I think about where I was a year ago (when I obviously was lacking creativity with a headline for March’s summary). There’s really nothing more I can say about it.
For a quarterly report, things are shaping up nicely for 2009. I’m a little off my non-running goals, but my pace for running miles is well ahead of my goal. And, honestly, that’s what I was hoping for, but didn’t want to be too optimistic start this year.
For the first three months of the year, I’ve logged 205.4 running miles; 40.9 walking miles; 67 biking miles; and 30.5 “other” miles. Total exercising miles (not including those pesky stairs at work): 343.8.
So far, so good.
Overcoming the 10k challenge
In my few years of running longer distances, I’ve made it clear that I really don’t like 10ks all that much. I can’t really pinpoint why — to me that distance is just weird. For a 5k, you can just go all out — if you screw up at the start, there’s no way to make up for it. For a half marathon, there’s plenty of a time to make up for lost time or let yourself recover if you start too fast. The 10k … well, that in between distance just hasn’t appealed to me.
Until yesterday, I had only done four 10ks since I started running in 2004 - compare that to 12 5ks and six half marathons. Even when I train, I prefer the distances of 5 miles or 8 miles. But yesterday, my view of the 10k changed … slightly.
As I initially reported with a short entry, I set a PR in the Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10k. My chip time was 48:11, 21 seconds faster than my very first 10k at the end of 2006. After having a very satisfying race last week, this was the icing on the cake. I had no idea what to expect yesterday. Six days removed from a half marathon, I knew my legs felt rested, but still a bit tired. I ran only once during the week for a little more than a mile. I figured that after the first mile I knew I would either push it or just lay back and enjoy the scenery of Richmond’s Monument Avenue and the 26,000-plus people who finished.
Well, I hit the first mile in 7:43. I felt great, but I wondered if maybe I started too fast. The next mile was also 7:43. At this point I figured I would try to keep that pace to get to halfway and then see what happens. Mile three was a tad slower at 7:54, but I was still feeling good and was pumped that I was maintaining a sub 8-minute mile pace. It was the first time in a long time that I have felt an adrenaline rush in a race. I hit mile four in 7:46. At this point, my legs tried to tell me to slow down — they were screaming at me for doing two races two weeks in a row, but I kept pushing. I hit mile five at 7:57 — at this point I knew I had to push it if I was going to set a PR. I didn’t want to miss a PR by 30 seconds, but I knew it would be close if I didn’t step it up. Push it or walk and get nowhere near a PR.
With this race and so many people, there’s a lot of weaving in and out almost the whole time. There were lots of people in the first few waves that shouldn’t have been up there and there were lots of people in the waves behind me that should have been closer to the front. That made the last mile very interesting. I pretty much tried to keep pace with people as they passed me — I knew they were in that last mile frame of mind, so I blocked out my tired body and just went with the flow. I hit mile six in 7:37. With 0.2 to go, I knew I had this PR in the bag. I finished the last two-tenths in 1:29. My legs were hating me, but I was so happy.
At a 7:45 pace, this is my first race at a sub 8-minute mile pace since August 2007 in a 5k. While I did set a PR last summer in a 4-mile race, this one feels a lot more satisfying. I’ve come a long way in a year after being hurt and running this race last year in 51:43.
As for what’s next, I am content with the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon in Virginia Beach being the next “big” race for me. Between now and then, though, I have some things I’d like to tackle with speed work and shorter distances to get me to what I really want this year — a PR in the half marathon at Rock ‘n’ Roll or later in the fall.
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Lastly, this race was a fundrasier for the VCU Massey Cancer Center. Donations are accepted for a while — if you’d like to donate to my efforts, click here. Both sides of my family have been impacted by cancer, so I’m not just raising money for the sake of raising money. Every little bit means a lot to me.
Hello PR, it's been a while
I’ve been waiting a while to say this — I set a PR today! According to my watch, I did today’s Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10k in 48:12, which is 20 seconds faster than a 10k in late 2006. I’m sure my chip time will be different by a second or two. This is just my fifth 10k, but I am extremely happy (maybe an understatement) with how today went. Since I’m pressed for time right now, I can’t do a full race report, but I promise to get to it soon!
Shamrock numbers and photos
Today I got the e-mail I always forget will show up a few days after the big race — the photos from the Shamrock Half Marathon are posted! Click here to view my photos. I have never purchased any race photo ever. I’m not sure why. Maybe I keep thinking that next year I’ll miraculously be 20 pounds lighter and be running in a skin-tight shirt showing off my buff body … but that’s a far-fetched dream. I do like that photo with the lighthouse — it’s always the coolest looking one. What’s funny is I knew that’s where the photographer usually is, but I didn’t see him/her this year.
The photo of me looking down at my watch is making the turn onto the boardwalk. I can remember doing that too and realized that I was going to beat 1:50. It’s too bad I had already taken my sock sleeves off for the photos. That’s one of my highlights! Glad I took that one of myself in the bathroom mirror beforehand. These photos also serve as a reminder to me that maybe next year I should buy some new shorts — I’ve worn those same green ones three years in a row.
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Here’s a final look at the numbers from this year’s Shamrock Half.
Chip time: 1:49:30
Clock time: 1:50:05
(I was in corral one which was for runners 1:50 or better, so it’s reassuring to know I was in the right place.)
5 Mile split: 41:13
Overall place: 1,044 out of 5,996
Gender place: 741 out of 2,577
Age division place: 109 out of 356
Sad, sleepy, motivated
Why do races have such an emotional draw to them? On Sunday there was the big excitement of completing the race. My thoughts were immediately on the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half that’s not until September; I was thinking about next March’s Shamrock; there were thoughts on other races this year; and there were, briefly, marathon thoughts.
On Monday I was sleepy, but sad to leave the beach. Despite Virginia Beach looking like a ghost town, I really wanted to stay another couple of days. It’s like I didn’t have enough time to just do nothing. Maybe that’ll happen in September. Today it was back to work. With my legs still a tad sore, sitting all day long was not my idea of fun. While trying to concentrate on working and happily telling stories about the weekend, my thoughts race back to “What’s next?” and when I can I take time off again to run. I really want to run; I have fallen back in love with running and I can’t wait to continue.
As I mentioned yesterday, the infamous question of “What’s next?” gets answered pretty quickly. In my quickest turnaround time ever for an event, I am doing the Monument Avenue 10k this weekend in Richmond. Like last year, I am doing this as a fundraiser for the VCU Massey Cancer Center. To date, I have raised $0. I avoided promoting this just in case something bad happened this weekend and I wouldn’t be able to run. Now that I have survived, I know I can run the 10k in a few days just fine. I might not run it hard, but the fight against cancer keeps me going.
Last year I raised $1,000; this year my goal is just $500. With a short time frame (although most of my donations last year were in the final days) and a weaker economy, I didn’t want to set such a high goal again this year. This is your chance to prove me wrong! To donate, click here (this site has been very sketchy tonight, so if it’s not working, try again later). Donations can be given for a few weeks after the race. For more on the VCU Massey Cancer Center, click here.
My goals for this race will not focus on time – I just want to have a good run and enjoy my surroundings. I have led the way at work to having a 10k “team” – we won’t be running together as a team, but we’ll all have T-shirts – and I’ll be representing the Lynchburg College “team” as well. The great thing about this race is that I don’t feel so selfish doing it. Rain is in the forecast – last year it rained almost the whole time. It’s the only race in which I’ve experienced rain too. Go figure.
So after Saturday, I have the “What’s next?” question all over again. Originally I had planned to do the Charlottesville 10 Miler on April 4, but I think I want to enjoy a break from long running for a short time. Cross training has been kind to me, so I think the next few weeks will focus on that and not running so much. But like I said, I fell back in love with running this weekend, so don’t expect me to stay away from it for too long. My pattern with running seems to be that I get into a very analytical stage for about a month after a race, but I do need some time to think about things.
Sham Rocked III
If I can take a non-racing approach to every race, I might just be able to get back to my 2007 form pretty quickly. Despite being 23 seconds slower than last year and just less than 5 minutes off my PR, this year’s Shamrock Half Marathon is by far my most satisfying race to date.
In looking back at last year’s race report and several posts leading up to the race, it’s easy for me to realize why I’m happy with this year’s time of 1:49:30 — last year all I thought about was breaking my PR from 2007 (which came just before I started blogging). This year the PR was not important. It did, however, cross my mind around the half-way point. But I know my body and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to maintain my pace or pick up the pace to set a PR. I didn’t exactly fully back off the gas pedal - I just settled in and stayed focused on beating 1:50, doing the math in my head each mile.
This race started out fairly cold. The low the night before was 30. Instead of wearing long sleeves, I cut holes in the bottom on two old socks and used them as sleeves for much of the race. I also wore gloves that stayed on until about mile 11 or so. It was frosty for much of the race, but, thankfully, there was no wind. A rarity for this race.
Like usual with the Shamrock, the first couple of miles started a tad slower than I had hoped, but with the mass amount of people it’s out of my control, plus it’s probably a good thing to be in a group that’s at a steady pace. I wonder if the organizers should consider having smaller corrals to spread out the field a little more at the start.
The first 5 miles of this race were perfect. Each mile was better than the next and it was at this point the thoughts a PR crept in my head. My mile times were 8:34, 8:22, 8:13, 8:06 and 7:58. In the next couple of miles, I kept a steady pace with times of 8:03 and 8:05. At this point, being a little more than half way and the miles just ticking away with no problems, I KNEW that I could not keep that pace. Or could I?
I backed off a little bit intentionally the next mile because I could feel myself getting tired — legs, lungs, everything felt tired. I wanted to slow down enough to have a recovery and then see if I could pick it back up. When I hit mile 8 at 8:22, I did the math in my head to a PR and knew that physically it wouldn’t happen. So I pretty much ended the race in the opposite way I started — slowing down for each mile. It’s as if I started a recovery before the race ended. I didn’t want a repeat of last year when I had to stop and stretch. And I didn’t want the rest of this month and April to be like last year in which very little running occurred.
I said heading into this race that I wanted Shamrock to set me up for a good rest of the year, and all this came back to my mind in those last few miles. I hit mile 9 in 8:31; mile 10 in 8:32; miles 11-12 were in 17:17 (I forgot to hit the lap button at mile 11 due to a water stop); mile 13 was in 8:36; and the last tenth was in 49 seconds. As I rounded the corner to finish the race on the Boardwalk, I knew I was going to break 1:50. After a year of injuries and running not going anything like I had wanted, all I could think about was how great this race had gone.
Also during this race I thought a lot about my son, Conner, who is just 4 1/2 months old and seeing the beach for the first time. Four months or so ago, this race was kind of a stupid thing to just think about doing. But, as I’ve mentioned on this blog before, one reason I decided to do this race was because of him. It wasn’t always easy getting to the gym at night, or going out for an after-dark jog with my dog, or running in nearly a foot of snow in Ohio in January and here earlier this month, but I did it. This experience of doing a “big” race as a new father is the most satisfying experience in all the running I’ve done in the past five years. My time means very little to me right now; the experience is priceless.
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As for what’s next, that’s an easy answer. I’m doing the Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10k this coming weekend. Details to come in the next day or two. For now, I’m enjoying a brief, but enjoyable, two days of no training, no working out and no worries about what food to put in my mouth.
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