Posts Tagged ‘Lynchburg’

Today I ran my third 10k of the year — and just my seventh 10k ever — in 55:05. It was, in a word, horrible.

The heat and humidity were awful; I’ve dealt with stomach issues on and off for several days; did I mention that it was horrible?

I won’t beat myself up for this. In fact, nearly 12 hours after the fact, I realize even more that I had very little control over what happened today.

Without going into details of my problems since late Wednesday, there was really no way I could probably hydrate for this race. And a good pre-race meal or proper nutrition? Forget about it. OK, maybe I could have done a little better, but I had fought with food for a few days figuring out what would work best. In fact, last night I questioned whether or not I’d go to this race.

While I was running and slowing down mile by mile, I thought a lot about how I would prepare for an “A” race — one that I put it all on the line for — if I got sick the week of the race or the forecast called for highs in the low 90s. I don’t have a complete answer for that just yet, but you better believe I’ll be better prepared.

While this is a race I’d like to quickly forget, the lessons learned today will help carry me through the summer. That may be more valuable than actually have a solid performance.

Today was the last day in my current job and I will soon be headed in the opposite direction in a different city for my new job. For those who don’t know where I live, I’m in Bedford, Va., which is pretty much in between Lynchburg and Roanoke. After a little more than 18 months of making the commute to Lynchburg, I’ll soon be headed the other way on U.S. 460 to what I hope will be the last new job in a while.

Anyway, since I haven’t gone for a run at work in the time I’ve been there, I thought it would be fitting today to head up that monogrammed mountain in Lynchburg and bid farewell. It’s not that I won’t come to Lynchburg anymore, but it’ll certainly be for different reasons than work. Unfortunately the views weren’t the greatest today, as you can see below. On a clear day, you can see a lot more than this, plus the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance. This just looks very BLAH.

I also struggle to use the word “mountain” for this — it’s more than a hill, but it’s not quite a mountain either, at least to me. It was pretty much a mile straight up Candlers Mountain Road, then into Snowflex and then a little bit of relief before the final peak. I stopped for a few minutes to catch my breath and to take in the skewed view and then headed back down for a few more miles. Here’s a look at the elevation profile:

The entire run was a good mix of road, gravel, dirt, trail and some sidewalk. About 3 miles into it, I felt some rain … then I felt some more rain … and then about 4 miles it was pretty steady. No problem — I don’t mind the rain at all, although it did make for two days in a row of some kind of rain. But about mile 5 it thundered. Then it thundered again. I’m not going to be out in a thunderstorm, so I ran about a mile less than I wanted to today, but I certainly am not going to complain.

The intensity of the uphill and downhill was something I haven’t experienced in a while. I needed it. And with the thunderstorm, it was a very fitting way to say good-bye.

I haven’t raced two 10ks in a year since 2007, both of which came within a few months of starting my blog. I’ve been pretty upfront at times that I just don’t like to race that distance — go out too fast and you’ll fall flat in the second half; start too slow and you can’t make up any time.

After I really pushed through all my miles Saturday, that way of thinking really doesn’t make sense. Plus, before this past weekend, I had only raced in five 10ks, with one of them being a wild off-road adventure, so that sort of doesn’t count. Simply put, I’m extremely inexperienced with 10ks.

So tonight I signed up for another 10k — the Central Virginia Kidney Association Memorial Day 10k, held in Lynchburg, Va. I ran this race in May2007, which was my first ever race report on the blog (which at the time was under a completely different name). Tonight is the first time I’ve looked at that post in a while — it’s great to read it and see where I’ve come since then.

As I take a brief look back, it gets me excited for what is to come. I know I’m a better runner than I was then, so I hope I can tackle those hills and beat my time of 49:49 back then. If the race was today, I’m not sure if I could. This course is drastically different than what I did this past weekend with some major hills — including a nice gradual uphill for probably about a half mile — so I have some work ahead of me in the next several weeks.

As I look ahead to the summer, I’m keeping my eye on local races that I’ve done in the past, including a 5 miler and a half marathon that I did last summer. While I will be focused on marathon training come July or so, I also want to focus on getting faster. Doing community races will help. For now, though, I’m focusing on this next 10k.

Back in May, I mentioned that I would like to do the Virginia 10 Miler this year. The race is now just two weeks away. Thanks to my place of employment being a sponsor, I was able to sign up last week at a very nicely discounted price. (For the record, at $30 and now $40, this is still a very affordable race.)

I’ve mapped it out here on Daily Mile. While it is hilly — one of the toughest races I’ve ever done — I am more than ready to tackle it. It’s a perfect training run for the Richmond Marathon on a week that I pretty much had planned as a recovery week anyway. While I do plan to run it hard, my main goal will once again be to run a sub-marathon goal pace. Saying I want to run a race around 9 minutes a mile almost seems laughable, but I want to make sure I don’t overdo it.

Since I’ve only raced this distance once — 4 years ago when I was having some knee issues — beating my time of 1:22:49 is certainly realistic. I’ll approach it as another non-race race, but don’t be surprised if I get caught up in the hype of this one.

One of the biggest lessons I have learned in six years of racing is that not every event will be the best ever. Today, I took that lesson to heart as some pretty crazy humidity was on hand for the Percival’s Island 5 Miler in Lynchburg.

I had a nice warm-up and was feeling pretty good as the race got under way, but a mile into it, I knew that pushing myself to set a PR wasn’t smart. After hitting the first mile in 7:22, I settled into a pretty good pace for the rest of the race, finishing in 39:32 (8th in my age group among 17; 63rd overall among 200 runners).

Instead of taking the chance to injure myself or beat myself for running hard and not getting a personal best, I turned this into a nice tempo training run. My lack of speed work was evident today on top of the humidity, but that certainly didn’t stop me from enjoying myself, the shaded trails, the views of the James River, running with a large group of people and getting in a solid, solid run.

While it wasn’t anywhere close to my PR of 36:59, this race was quite possibly the smartest race I have ever done. And that’s really all I have to say about this experience.

***

The winner of the POM Wonderful competition for guessing my race time is Danny, who guessed a time of 38:40. Danny’s blog is one of the first ones I started reading a few years ago. You can head over to his blog to follow his training for the New York City Marathon. Thanks to everyone who guessed some times that I was certainly hoping for!

“You have to wonder at times what you’re doing out there. Over the years, I’ve given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement.” - Steve Prefontaine

While running is often about self-satisfaction, it’s always fun to get others involved in the activity. For the second time ever, I did a guess-my-time contest for tomorrow’s Percival’s Island 5 Miler in Lynchburg, and I’m thrilled to have had so many guesses. I also want to thank POM for getting involved in this to and posting a link on Twitter to yesterday’s post. It’s exciting to have so many people helping push me to do the best I can possibly do.

You can view all the guesses in the Comments section. Thanks to everyone for dropping by! Good luck.

When I launched this site back in April, I promised to have some contests and giveaways, but unfortunately I haven’t done too much of that beyond giving away an awesome book (Thanks Steve!) and a failed attempt at giving away an event T-shirt (Half of Jess and another Steve let me keep it, and I actually have worn it quite a bit).

So fast forward to now … I’m ready to do contest No. 3 — a free case of POM Wonderful juice. Talk about some good stuff — in addition to drinking it, it’s good for cooking too. Even my 20-month-old son enjoys it.

So, how do you win it? Predict my time in Saturday’s Percival’s Island 5 Miler, being held along a flat paved trail in my almost-hometown of Lynchburg, Va. It’s really that simple — the person closest to my time to the nearest second over or under wins. If there happens to be a tie, the person under my time wins (kind of like “Price is Right”). If two people happen to predict the same time, I’ll use Random.org to determine the winner.

To help you out, I’ll give you some background to help predict the time. This is one of my favorite community races that I’ve done. The only problem is I haven’t done this race in three years. Back in 2007, I finished in 36:59, a huge improvement from 2006, when I had a time of 41:07. 2007, just like this year, was full of PRs. I’m not really shooting for a PR though — I’m really just continuing this test of how fast I can go in races and, right now, use them as speed work for marathon training.

The PRs I have set this year have come in the half marathon in March (1:42:52), the 5k in April (21:41) and the mile early this month (6:15). I’ll save you some homework: plug all those numbers into race predicting calculators and the times range from about 36 minutes to just under 38 minutes for a 5 miler. Would I like to set a PR? Definitely. I’ll see how I feel a couple of miles into it whether or not it’s realistic. One huge factor will be the weather. Saturday looks to be muggy, but not all that bad temperature wise. Also keep in mind that I have to run hills all the time, and this race is very flat.

To enter this contest, simply leave a comment below by 9 p.m. (ET) Friday. If you do not want the case of POM, please do not enter. Predictions given over Facebook or Twitter will not be accepted. Please leave a valid email address so I can contact you if you’re the winner.

Good luck!

Just stop thinking about it. That’s what I had to tell myself this morning before the Academy Mile in downtown Lynchburg. I had to stop thinking about my 6:26 from three years ago and just run as hard as I possibly could for a mile. In a mile race, it’s 100 percent physical; there’s no time to think. Plus I’m a completely different runner than three years ago.

So when the horn kicked off today’s race, I stopped thinking and rolled with it. I didn’t even look at my watch the first quarter of a mile. When I got to the cone marking the spot, I couldn’t believe it — I just ran 1:30. Could I possibly beat 6 minutes? I knew that with the first part of this race being slightly downhill that I’d have a good time for the first half, but all I was really shooting for was to get to the first half in 3:30. With very little speed work, I didn’t know what would happen. Somehow, I hit the next quarter of a mile in 1:21. WHAT?

The thoughts of under 6 minutes, though, were short lived as I realized how much uphill was remaining — even if it was a slight uphill. The third quarter mile was around 1:50, I think, even though I felt like I was pushing harder. When I looked at my watch and knew what was ahead, I realized that even though under 6 wasn’t going to happen, a PR was easily within reach.

I hit the finish line in 6:15, making this my third PR this year. Easily my fastest mile of anything this year and definitely the most rewarding. If I actually did some speed work besides just running on hills that I can’t avoid, I could probably push my time closer to 5:45.

For a brief moment, I thought maybe this would be good enough for a place in my age group, but apparently people in their 30s just keep getting faster, at least around Lynchburg. I was 8th in my age group. Overall I was 34th out of 151 runners. Similar to the last time I did this race, the weather was gorgeous today; it was like an early fall morning with cool temperatures and low humidity.

Technically I’ll call this a PR since it’s a road race, but 16 years ago I ran a 5:45 mile in high school track. It’s the only time I remember from those days of running, and perhaps I did something faster, but I don’t remember. So, for what it’s worth, it’s not really the best mile ever … that will have to wait until 2011 I guess.

About a year ago, I went to the doctor after dealing with various foot issues on and off since late 2007. It’s odd to read the post about the visit and see what didn’t happen. I didn’t do physical therapy; I didn’t run on the weightless treadmill; and I didn’t get any shots in my foot. I simply wore some insoles for a little while (that temporarily hurt the other foot) and the infamous plantar faciitis “slipper” on and off for a few months and that was it. That was all I needed to get through the summer.

Fast forward a year later and I’m in a completely different state of mind. At the time of the doctor’s visit, I privately considered giving up on long distances. I wouldn’t have had a problem doing that — I never ran any longer than 4 miles for the first two and a half years of running anyway. Now, I’m planning a schedule of races to do this year. I haven’t done this in three years. I’ve focused on the big picture races and rest — Shamrock, rest, Rock ‘n’ Roll Half, rest, repeat. Big picture is important — I’m completely focused on the Richmond Marathon in November — but it’s the smaller picture races that will make the big picture even more rewarding.

I’m almost scared to put this out there, but it’s part of my shell-breaking that I’m doing. Sure, some of these races might not happen for various reasons, but this is the plan through November in addition to what I’ve already done.

* May 8: Bella 5K Stroller Race in Roanoke
This will be a first for me — racing with my son. I’ve never done more than 2.6 miles with a stroller, so it’ll be the longest distance with him. My main goal will be to finish without tripping over a baby or two … I guess as far as time is concerned, I’m really just shooting for under 9-minute miles. While I can run any time with my son, I’m looking forward to the racing experience. That makes the entry fee worth it.

* June 5: Trail Nut Half Marathon in Bedford
Another first — an all-out trail race. I’m hoping to do more trail running this month beyond a mile or two to prepare for this. It will mark the third half marathon this year, all with increasing difficulty. From what I’ve heard about this race and what I know about these mostly single-track trails, I think two hours or so will be likely. I’m looking forward to doing something radically different so my focus isn’t on a PR, but rather just having a good time.

* July 3: Academy Mile in Lynchburg
There needs to be more mile races. It’s been three years since I did a 6:26 in this race. I’ll set my mind on this much later, but it would be awesome to be even faster. Maybe that weird goal of mine of running so hard I throw up will come true.

* July 17: Percival’s Island 5-Miler in Lynchburg
This is one of my most favorite races around this area. It’s flat; it’s fast. One of my best races ever came here in 2007, so I hope that I continue what’s happened so far in 2010 and nail it again this year. This race will be a good test of where I am with my speed and endurance and can help set the tone for the three months of marathon training that will follow.

* Aug. 14: Lynchburg Half Marathon in Lynchburg
Want to run a half marathon for $20? That’s all this race is. It’s also a very flat race, a rarity for this area. It’s hard to believe that when this race gets here that this might be the fourth half marathon of the year. There’s also a 5K that same day — I might change my mind and do that as a speed workout instead. We’ll see. No reason to rush on that decision.

* Sept. 25: Virginia 10 Miler in Lynchburg
This is a wish-list race that is dependent on marathon training. This very tough race is only $30 through the end of August, so I’ll decide by then whether or not this will happen. If you’re looking for a challenge and can’t afford some bigger-named fall half marathons, this is one to consider doing.

* Nov. 13: Richmond Marathon in Richmond
Marathon No. 2 — the big prize — is 192 days away. The countdown is officially under way.

That's me in the green nearing the finish line, probably costing myself an extra second. Thanks to my friend Travis, who I usually run with, for taking this photo. He was a spectator today to watch his wife race.

I’ve left myself speechless. I did 22:41 in today’s Race for Life 5K in Lynchburg, Va. That’s a PR by 1 second - ONE SECOND - breaking my time of 22:42 in August 2007.

There’s not too much to say about this really — I did what I planned on doing. With the first mile being down hill, I just went for it. I hit the first mile in 6:48. The second mile finished going down hill and flattened out a bit: 7:15. The third mile … well, I wasn’t speechless then. I talked to myself out loud for the first time ever in a race. Heading up the hill in the last mile I told myself several times, “You can do this. Just do it.” I dug deep coming up that hill, and I did it. It was one of the toughest ends to a race I have ever done.

My time put me in 45th overall out of 467 racers - a HUGE crowd for Lynchburg. It was great to see so many people taking part in this event today. The volunteers were awesome - they can’t get enough thanks. And there was plenty of food and drink to go around too. I also want to give a shout-out to Dr. David Wimmer of Wimmer Chiropractic who was there. (Full disclaimer, my wife is a patient of his.) I got a free analysis of my back to discover that I’m mostly OK.

My only complaint is that this race has gotten fairly large for a very crammed start with too many people starting toward the front that probably shouldn’t be there. That’s not a bad thing though - it’s a sign of how popular races are becoming around here. That being said, my first quarter mile was slowed a bit because I had to get off the trail to pass people. I could have been a tad faster at the beginning.

But I’m not really complaining. After all, I’ve had two races this year and I’ve had two PRs.

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Lastly, Jess of the blog Half of Jess, was the official winner of the Shirt Off My Back contest for this race, but she doesn’t want it. I am totally fine with that - it was great to have her guess a time that was 11 seconds of my official time. So, to do the right thing in the contest, I’ll give the shirt to the second closest finisher, Steve of 265andFalling, who was 18 seconds off. If his name sounds familiar to you, it’s because just the other day he did a Q&A with me on this site.

But to all of you who guessed my time, you need to step it up a bit next time I do this. My mom guessed 22:45 last night. Mother does know best!