Building Up & Breaking Down

Lovin’ the weather here in Southwest Germany.  Winter finally arrived last week, smack dab in the middle of my recovery week.  Not just a tease, but a full-on, in your face arrival.

Thursday morning’s very isolated snow-shower pretty much shut down any commute for anyone on the south side of Heidelberg.  But not for me.  Gotta love the bicycle.  I floated through the forest and across the fallow fields on a pillow of fresh snow.  Shaking my head at all the poor folks in their single-file parking lots.  Once I got into town, I dropped the tire pressure to 35 p.s.i. and the studs stuck to the ice.  No issues at all.  My commute was extended by only 2-3 minutes, which would be about the time that it took for me to let the air out of the tires as well as account for some creeping around corners (I haven’t found the edge of control with the studs yet).  For those on four wheels, the commute was extended anywhere from 45 to 90 minutes.

Friday was a bit more of the same in the afternoon, but everyone on four wheels seemed to behave themselves.  Then the cold set in.

Saturday was a bit chilly, dipping down to +4°F (-15°C) and gradually warming up to +12°F (-11°C) by early afternoon.  Luckily there wasn’t much wind, so the run wasn’t bad at all.  Matter of fact, I layered too much and was peeling off layers, caps and gloves just a few miles into the run.

Here it is, Monday, the Winter Solstice, and we still have a fair covering of snow on the ground.  Perfect for jumping in to the next Base period.  But I’m jumping ahead of  myself.

As I said above, last week as a recovery week.  That made it week three of my Base 2 cycle for my next race on January 31st.  Being the “old guy” that I am, following Friel’s protocol of using three week cycles for folks over 40, vice the four week cycles for those under 40, has worked quite well for me.  Especially since I’m not focusing on long-course triathlon right now, but instead basically living the life of a duathlete.

So Base 2 was a good cycle.  Through the second week I pushed my running mileage up to 35.5 miles.  Nothing extravagant, but on top of my 90-miles of commuting each week, the legs are getting abused a bit.  And with another Base cycle, leading into my Build cycle, I’ll be dancing very close to my upper manageable limit of 60 miles per week of running.  That’s not counting the commute.

Besides, if I’m to run more than 60 miles per week, I better be getting paid for it.

The workload wasn’t overwhelming, but for some reason the recovery took a bit longer than normal.  Perhaps all of the holiday parties?  Typically I’m good to go by Wednesday.  Last week it took until Saturday before I felt fresh.  But that’s OK. 

It’s the result of doing good work.  And some good parties.

Today’s run, warmer than this weekend, looked similar to the photo at right, although not as deep.  The nice thing is that it adds a nice bit of strength training to the run.  Although strength training in the middle of 10-mile runs are typically not the best thing for the legs.

But it’s good work.

Since I’ve taken this week off from work, the commute isn’t necessary.  So that leaves my legs fresh for the runs, which will tally up to ~50 miles.  Next week there will be just a few commute days, so bike mileage will remain low, but I’ll have to ramp up the miles through the weekend, seeing how close to 60 miles I can dance without overdoing it.  And then rush headlong into the next recovery week, which includes several days of skiing.  But it’ll be good recovery from running.

What’s interesting is that right now, with a full Base cycle followed and Build cycle still to come, I’m aerobically in better shape than I was going in to last March’s 60K Trail Run and significantly better than when I ran my 40-miler in September, 2008.  That isn’t a subjective feeling, but looking objectively at output from the Training Load plug-in for SportTracks.  So things are looking good.  The trick will be keeping injury free over the next few weeks as I ramp up the miles.

Then crank out an enjoyable 50K in six weeks.

But my challenge right now isn’t with the running.  It’s with eating.  I know that’s a funny thing to say during the holidays, but it is what it is.  With this workload I need to be ingesting approximately 4,000 calories per day on average.  That’s a lot of food, especially since I don’t eat a “normal” western diet, full of processed carbs, fats and salt.  Basically, if I can’t identify it as something that came directly from a plant or animal, I eschew (or would that be “won’t chew”?) it.  Within reason, of course, because life’s too short to be that strict about anything.  And although I could reasonably identify a Whopper as mostly coming from animals and plants, I stay away from that stuff as much as possible.  And the recent results of my blood work tell me that I’m definitely on the right track.

So I’m typically falling short of that 4,000 calorie mark by somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,200 calories.  That’s a lot to miss.  It does hamper my workout recovery.  And since it’s such a large daily deficit, I’m not losing weight since my metabolism is slowing down to hold on to every calorie I ingest.  Basically, my body is going in to survival mode. 

Someone hand me a cookie!

<DISCLAIMER: Any and all training that I describe works for me and flies in the face of much conventional wisdom.  The reason it works for me is that I have a few decades of activity and fitness under my belt and know that my body can recover quickly from a given workload.  So don’t think that you could, or should, jump from 35 miles of running one week to 50 miles the next.  If you do, you’ll get hurt.>

Building

Gotta love the feeling of a good Build period.  It’s been a while.  Eight months, to be exact. 

Eight months ago was the Build for the Country Music Marathon.  But since finishing that race, training has been very unfocused, occasionally non-existent.  And that’s what works for me.  I’m typically the opposite of everyone else, building and peaking for some great late winter, early spring races.  Summer is not for me.

Basically it boils down to the fact that I generate a lot of heat when I run.  A lot.  When it’s 30°F (-01°C), I’m still in shorts, although I will start out with a long sleeve that typically gets pushed up to the elbows just a few miles in.  Once it reaches 20°F (-07°C), I’ll cover the legs up and start thinking about a full cap.  The range in between 20-30°F will get me to put on different ear coverings and occasionally gloves (that usually don’t last but a mile).

Summer races?  Forget it.  Unless they also involve a swim and bike.  Then I just deal with the run.

So here I am, in the middle of December, building for my next race.  Mid-December, when most of you are taking a break from the year’s schedule, just thinking about your upcoming Base schedule, hoping not to put on too much weight during the holidays.  Me?  I’m realizing that I’m not eating enough to keep up with the additional 2,000 calories a day that I’m burning above my daily caloric needs to stay alive and function.  Simply put, I need to eat more.  Easier said than done, unless I start eating at Burger King every day (no thanks).  But I’ve got to fuel to race.

My next race?  A 50K (that’s 31 miles for y’all that only use the Imperial system) on January 31st, 2010.  Fifty kilometers is not a huge race for me (after last year’s 41-miler and last March’s 60K (37.2 miler), but something to focus on.  The 50K is just for fun, mainly to see how the Germans run their races.  And to give some focus to my training.

So this weekend was my first 20+ miler weekend of this cycle, getting ready for the race.  That’s when I know I’m building strong.  Instead of single long runs, I function better with “double-long’s”, which are two days in a row of long runs.  That’s every weekend for the next five weeks. 

My first experiences with double-longs are almost two years ago and they’ve served me well.  One thing I’ve learned since then is that I can actually build to 32-mile weekends (22 on Saturday, 10 on Sunday) and recover well.  Much better than if I do a 24-26 miler on Saturday and take Sunday off.  I guess I’m weird that way, since it flies in the face of every training plan put out there by the experts.

So here I am, at the tail end of this first Build cycle.  I’m now entering my “recovery” week, which I definitely need.  Amazing how I can enter this weekend completely knackered, yet still push through comfortably.  Saturday morning it was everything I could do to drag my carcass out of bed.  But I did, had a bit of breakfast and some coffee, then headed out the door.  The first few miles were slow, but that’s OK.  By mid-way through the 13.1 mile run, I was cruising, powering up and over the overpasses (it’s pretty flat around my house, so I find the hills where I can).  I finished strong.

Today, I was hobbling for the first hour or so.  I guess that’s a sign of aging, but I refuse to accept it.  Although it’s inconvenient, it works well with goals of my second long run of the weekend, which is to get the body used to running hard and fast when it’s tired and sore.  So Sunday’s run is always with the goal of running a negative split (i.e. run the second half of the run faster than the first half).  Sounds easy, until you do it with 15-25 miles of running in your legs in the previous 24-30 hours.  It builds a skill that comes in very handy after 20 miles in any race of marathon distance or further. 

So that’s the framework for the weekend now.  This weekend, it was 13.1 miles on Saturday, 8 miles on Sunday (that’s 21.1 miles for the math-challenged amongst you).  Since next week is a recovery week, I’ll back off to 9 miles on Saturday, 6 miles on Sunday.  After that, the next Build begins, so it’ll be 15 on Saturday, 10 on Sunday.  And so on over the next few weeks.  Then to race.

So enjoy the holidays, enjoy the food, enjoy the drink.  Most of all, smile when you drive past that lonely runner out there in the snow and wind.  Because most likely they’re someone just like me, who’s schedule is offset six months from yours. 

RUTS – A Training Run

This isn’t a race report.  A race didn’t happen.

For me, anyway.

A 90-minute drive out to Paducah, packet pickup, scouting out the course (a 1/2-mile horse track) and a bit of futzing around and “GO” was yelled just after 8pm.

Since it was a 10-hour time trial, there wasn’t too much movement at first.  Other than the relay teams, which took off like bats out of hell, the rest of us settled in to somewhere near a 9-10 minute/mile pace.  Early on the hoof marks from the horses gave some of us a concern, especially wondering what they’d be like at 3 am when we were all tired.  Luckily they were flattened out a bit in the first couple of hours.

The first few miles were a bit stiff, which was understandable considering I hadn’t run in three weeks and other than the Country Music Marathon, hadn’t run anything longer than seven miles since April 16th, over six weeks ago.

Since the track was slightly banked, the plan was to run the standard counter-clockwise for the first two hours, then switch to clockwise for two hours, then back to counter-clockwise for two hours, continuing to the end.  That worked well, switching up the scenery a bit every two hours so that you weren’t looking at the exact same turns/straights for ten hours.

I talked to a couple of people in the first couple of hours, mostly because they were interested in my 6-minute run/1-minute walk strategy.  So we talked as long as the run or walk session lasted, then I continued.

The one beauty of this run was that I got to do what I haven’t been able to do since I haven’t been running – think about whatever comes to mind.  Mind you, my brain is usually going a million miles a second on a variety of topics at once.  But when I run, I can actually settle on one topic and think it through.  And that’s how this race became a training run.

The legs were feeling real good during miles 7-18, but I had already thought things through.  I wasn’t going to run the full ten hours.  There was still way too much stuff to be done to get us ready to fly to Germany on Tuesday and my taking all night to run ten hours, then sleep most of the day away, would really put us into a bind.  Besides that, Goddess was out there supporting me in every way possible, getting ready to sleep in the truck and then tip-toe around me in the room as I slept all day.  I just couldn’t, and wouldn’t, put her through that.  She’s my Goddess for a reason.

During mile 18, the legs started to protest their longest run (barring the marathon) since late March.  I wasn’t surprised.  But I also knew that no matter how I felt at that moment, it would change.  But my mind was already made up – I’d go four hours or 20 miles, whichever came first.  Turns out that both happened at the same time.

So I pulled off the track, informed Goddess of my decision and turned my chip in.  Being the Goddess that she is, she pressed me really hard to make sure that I was doing what I needed to do and not doing it because it was suddenly becoming more difficult.  I was quite adamant that I was.  So she acquiesced, helping me pull the shoes off and packing stuff away.

We had a pleasant drive home and slept in bed, instead of a truck or grassy field.

And I’m great with that!

 

A couple of moments:

- Watching the high school cross-country relay team get ready for a night of fun by playing Frisbee and goofing around really took me back to my cross country days.  Those were certainly some good times.

- Watching the volunteer who handed out drinks and food for a couple of hours, then run his leg of his relay team, then get back to the table to serve really impressed me.  He said we were the crazy ones, but I shook his hand for his dedication.

- With the truck parked in the infield and the tailgate facing the track, Goddess got to see the full rhythm of the run, from slow to fast, painful to fluid.  And she certainly helped.  For several laps, she held up pages from her “Shape” magazine to let me enjoy the models as I passed.

- At about three hours into the run, they had piping hot Little Caesar’s pizza delivered.  I’m not a fan, but damn it tasted good at that point.

- At about that same time, the stable workers started showing up.  Apparently they didn’t get the word that we would be using the track, so they stood there for a while trying to figure out what they were going to do, conversing on cell phones and with each other.  But mostly they leaned against the fence and enjoyed watching the women jog by.

- I broke out the mp3 player for this one.  It was a completely closed course and there was plenty of room to maneuver, unlike a trail race, so I brought it along.  Goddess suggested that I put them in, so I did.  But the battery was dead since I hadn’t used it in six months or so.  I guess that should have been something to check on the night before.

 

Closing thought:

Steve Durbin and the crew of the West Kentucky Running Club (WKRC) put on yet another great event.  They were the ones that put on the 60K trail race that I ran in March.  Not only did they put on the event and man the timing station and feed table, they ran the race.  If you are ever in the Paducah area, definitely look to see if they’re holding a race.  You WILL NOT be disappointed.

 

And we’re off to Germany.  See you on the other side.

RUTS

Run Under the Stars starts in just 2.5 hours.

Ten hours (8pm-6am) around a 1/2 mile horse track, which is packed limestone.  Should be interesting, should be boring.  Will be fun.

This is a fun run for me.  I have only very loose goals for this one – set a new distance PR of greater than 41.5 miles, or break 50 miles.

Even if I don’t achieve either one, I’ll be happy with it, considering I haven’t run in almost three weeks, we’ve been extremely busy getting the house packed and shipped to Germany, getting the vehicles to Florida and the shippers and setting everything else up.  In other words, it’s been a very hectic May.  So this is the icing on the cake.

Goddess is humoring me on this one.  She had ultimate veto authority over this one, given the timing.  Over the past couple of days she’s even expressed some doubt over fitting this in amongst the last few days here in country.  But she’s sticking it out with me.

And that’s where goal number three comes in, if neither one of the above look feasible.  Goal number three will be crawling into the car and curling up with Goddess for a couple of hours. 

I hope y’all sleep well.

Breathe!

Seriously, I needed to remind myself (and Goddess) to do just that.

Over the past couple of weeks, post-duathlon and post-CMM, we’ve been busy taking care of vehicles and getting the house packed.

Vehicles?  We had to take my ‘64 Chevy truck down to my parent’s house for storage.  It made it about halfway before the transmission went thermo-nuclear.  Seriously, on the side of the freeway that thing was white hot, boiling off all the transmission fluid.  So we drug it the rest of the way.  Then the Subbie made a trip to St Louis so it could be shipped to Germany.

Then the house was packed.

But in the meantime, a good friend made it to Nashville.  So we made a trip, had some drinks, and enjoyed his reminiscing of growing up in that town while seeing (through his eyes) how things have changed.

Then last Saturday was the Elton John/Billy Joel concert.  Three and a half hours of some of my favorite karaoke songs.  We definitely had a great time.

The last of the moves is tomorrow morning. 

And here’s a pic a couple of hours before the concert.  The shirt says it all (after the sign):

Then we finally made it to the local running club’s monthly meeting.  We got to meet Runnermom, as well as the guy who I suspected was drafting during the duathlon.  I recognized him, then when we met he said “Hey, I read your blog”.  It could have been awkward, but it wasn’t.  Good folks all around.

Finally, over the weekend Goddess prevailed and I finally set up a Facebook account.  It has been everything I feared, namely a huge time suck.  But then again, I’ve already talked to people I haven’t seen in over 20 years, so it’s a good thing.

In the meantime, man I’ve really got to get a run or two in.  Next weekend is the 10-hour overnight “Run Under the Stars”.  I haven’t put a single mile in in the past two weeks thanks to all of the other activities.  Hopefully it just means that I’m well-rested.

I may or may not get a race-report in after that one.  I finish at 6am Sunday morning, run a 5K (Run for Beer) at 5pm Sunday afternoon, then fly to Germany on Tuesday.  So I’ll fit it in when I can.

2009 Clarksville Duathlon

Why couldn’t we have had this weather last weekend.

Overnight there were flood watches and warnings issued.  It pissed down rain pretty much all night.  When we woke up at 5 am, we were drying out, with all of the rain north and south of us.  By the time we left, the hole we were in filled in, so it pissed down rain again.  But no lightning, so all was good.

Transition was set up in the rain.  The pre-race brief was held in the rain.  The start went off in the rain.  And it was 52F.  Perfect.  But it must have scared some folks off.  I don’t know how many registered, but only 24 folks showed up to race – 20 individual competitors and two 2-person teams.

The course was a 2-mile run, a 13.1-mile ride and a 2-mile run.

Mind you, other than four quick 5-mile rides this week to make sure the bike worked properly, this was the first time I had ridden since doing this race a year ago.  I was banking on my running fitness getting me through the bike leg.  Of course, running fitness was highly questionable after last Saturday’s very warm Country Music Marathon.  Typically after a Saturday marathon I’m feeling fine by Tuesday or Wednesday.  Even during a short run yesterday my legs felt like bricks.  So I really had no idea how I’d do today, but that wasn’t a worry.  This is a fun race that is all about going all out.

So the start whistle blew and we were off.  The idea was to get out quickly and then settle down.  Mind you, settle down needed to be right at LTHR.  Actually it ended up a bit higher, with most of the run in Zone 5a:

Run Leg 1, Heart Rate x Distance (with Pace)

Both Goddess and I measured a touch over 2.1 miles for the leg on our Garmin 305’s.

So that was 2.1 miles in 14:59, for an average pace of 7:06/mile and a peak of 5:55/mile,which I used to get ahead of the start line melee.

Arriving at T1, I was fourth overall.  First was way the hell in front, while second and third were about ten seconds ahead.

I forgot how much fun it is to bend over to change shoes while your heart is exploding in your chest.

Out the gate on the bike and I settled in, making sure I didn’t put too much power to the cranks in the opening miles, knowing that this was a rolling 13.1-mile course with a few turns.  Those that pushed hard in the beginning would pay dearly near then end and especially so during the final 2-mile run.

A mile in, a cyclist flew past me like I was standing still, putting me in fifth overall.  He’ll become important later.  Two miles later, I passed the guy in front of me, so I was back in fourth.  By now the rain had stopped, so it was quite pleasant. 

There was a hilarious moment at mile 4.5 as we had to negotiate a hairpin turn onto a new road.  I saw a minivan approaching the stop sign as I was slowing to make the turn.  The lady driver had her window down and was telling the volunteer that he needed to do something about the cyclists, because with the mist in the air we were impossible to see.  Mind you, in my chosen field of meteorology, surface visibility is an important parameter to observe and forecast.  I looked off at the tree line in the distance that I could clearly see, which I estimated to be 1.5-2 miles away.  I couldn’t figure out why I could see those trees, yet she couldn’t see us in the opposite lane.  For the next mile or so I calculated that she must have been traveling in the neighborhood of 750 mph in order to not have the appropriate reaction time.

I want that van!

Anyway, as I said, the course had some rolling hills.  Here’s a shot of the Garmin-calculated grade, with a curve of my speed (blue line) overlaid:

Bike Leg, Grade x Distance (with Speed overlay)

Between miles eight and nine, I was passed, putting me back in fifth.  The much older gentleman that flew by had some speed.  Immediately thereafter, the guy that I passed between miles three and four passed and asked if this was a drafting race.  I found it interesting that he was able to catch and pass me, since he was a couple of hundred yards behind me when I passed the lady with the amazingly fast van and fell ever further behind with each mile after that.  I replied “No, it’s a USAT-rules race”.  He should have known what type of race it was, since they handed out a USAT rule crib sheet with every registration packet.  I passed him a second time about a half-mile later.  I don’t know if he was drafting; only he knows that.  But his bridge up to me was while I was maintaining a 22mph average through that stretch is pretty impressive.

In the last mile, I saw first and second heading out on their last run leg.  Soon after, a woman went flying by too.  Turns out that the guy who flew by me at mile one of the bike leg was part of a team.  So that meant I was fourth overall in the solo division.

And to the right I am on my (archaic by triathlon standards) Softride with old, old-school Spinergy’s as I dismount going into T2. 

I am quite upset that they no longer make those bikes and I can’t have another for my next bike.

Considering that I had only 20 miles in my cycling legs for the past year, I was very, very pleased with my bike leg.  Goddess and I both measured 13.33 on our Garmin’s.  I covered the distance in 40:12, for an average speed of 20.37 mph.  Not too shabby.

I hit T2 in fourth overall and flew through.  The much older gentleman that rolled in to T2 in front of me arrived at least a minute before, but I exited right on his tail and passed him within 100 yards, putting me in third.  Then I settled in to work.  This time I knew I’d be cranking the legs as hard as they’d go.  I focused on my turnover and tried to keep the cadence high.

Run Leg 2, Heart Rate x Distance (with Pace overlay)

We were running out one mile, turning around an orange cone and heading back in.  At about 3/4 mile, I heard feet behind me.  Turns out it was the guy that asked about drafting.  He had some wheels on him.  Much more than I had.  We hit the turnaround at the same time and he pulled steadily away after that.  At this point I settled in for a bit, waiting to see if he would tire.  With a half-mile to go, he did slow, so I ratcheted up the pace.  He turned around and saw me coming, so he picked it up and held me off through the finish line.  So I finished fourth overall amongst the solo racers, first in my age group.

For the last leg, since the exit to transition was in a different place than the start line, I measured the advertised 2-mile run at 2.15 miles, covered in 15:52, for a 7:22/mi average.  Not as evenly paced as the first leg, but still not too shabby.  Especially with the 6:17/mi pace as I crossed the finish line (below left).

This was the second edition of the Clarksville Duathlon.  If you read last year’s race report, you’ll recall that they had some issues, which are to be expected with a first-run event.  I can guarantee you that they more than overcame those issues and put on a high class event this year. 

I also have to give the organizers a huge congratulations for picking such a great cause to give all of the proceeds to – Fisher House.  As you may recall, I ran a donation drive for Fisher House last year as I was preparing to run my 40-miler in Baghdad.  And if you come to this post from my blog’s main page, you’ll see that the link to Fisher House remains in the upper left.  I maintain that it’s a great cause to support, so if you’d like to, please click and donate.  I get nothing from it (I already got my t-shirt), so don’t worry, all of your donation goes directly to Fisher House.

So if you are anywhere near the area next May, I highly recommend this event.  The timing, one week after the Country Music Marathon, is perfect.  It forced me to get out on the bike and spin my legs to loosen them up.

—————————————–

Now it’s time to look forward. 

If you stayed awake through my post about planning and Training Load, you’ll recall the segment on Training Influence.  If you didn’t stay awake that long, the gist of it is that based on my personal recovery rate, the training that would have the most influence on my next race would typically be approximately 28-32 days prior to the race.  After that, there’s diminishing influence until the my taper date, which is typically 10-12 days prior to the race.  After the taper date, no amount of training will have a positive influence on the race, so that’s the time to back off and let the body rest.

Anyway, since my next race is on May 30th, my calculated max training effect date was yesterday.  But I clearly didn’t go out and crank out a 20-miler.  No way.  Not after last week’s very warm marathon.  However, the marathon, even though it took a lot out of me, could have a huge positive influence on the outcome of the race at the end of the month.  Much like the 60K I ran in mid-March had a huge positive influence on my ability to survive last weekend’s very warm marathon.

So if you are in the Paducah, KY area at the end of May, meet me for a fun run, otherwise known as RUTS.  Run five, 13, 26, 50 or 60 miles.  Your call.  But having fun is mandatory.

CMM 2009 – A Race Report (of sorts)

Well, you’ve already seen the final results, so I won’t rehash that.

And we don’t have much in the way of photos, so I can’t post those.

But I can post this:

 

Pre-race

- The forecast as far as ten days out was for a hot, dry day.  But I know that 10-day forecasts are a roll of the dice, so I kept my fingers crossed.  Unfortunately, as race day approached, the forecast held true.  My goal when I registered for this race was to break four hours.

- Four hours for me would be a huge PR.  An over-reaching PR, considering my PR is 4:25:40, which was on a much, much hillier course.  But I knew where my fitness and preparation put me, so four hours was not out of the question.  But I’d definitely have to work for it.

- With a forecast of 70F at the start and mid-80’s by noon, I knew that I needed to adjust my plans to just get through the race.  Time goals should go out the window.  But I don’t give up that easy.  I still planned on pacing for a four hour run, with a negative split.  I’d evaluate where I was by the half-way point and push as hard as I could, regardless of the conditions.  Also, the wind was forecast to get gusty from the south, which may or may not help.

- My mom and sister were in town.  Sister would walk the half-marathon with Goddess, while mom would come down and support.  But she also planned to meet a friend for brunch while we were out flogging ourselves.  And since she couldn’t ride the shuttle to the start line from the parking area at the finish, we had to leave early so I could drop off all three at the start line, then head across town to park the car and ride the shuttle back.  So we were headed out the door at 3:45 am.  So much for my own advice from last year where I said that I’d get a hotel room next time we ran this race.

Race

- I read that they had sang the national anthem and made several announcements before the start.  But unlike last year, they didn’t have loudspeakers along the length of the masses. So we never heard it.

- As forecast, 70F and humid at the start.  They adjusted the course this year to take a longer loop through the landmarks in the downtown area.  An excellent sightseeing option, but included quite a few more hills.

- As always, great crowd support along the majority of the course.  With 31,352 registered runners, there were lots of friends and family and locals supporting the crowd.  It definitely added a lot of energy to the course.

- The course was very crowded for the first eight miles.  With so many runners, there’s just no way around it, even with the wave start.  But that worked out well, since it forced me to keep my pace under control.

- A quick potty stop at 4.6 miles, thanks to the ungodly lines at the start area.  Sure, they probably had 100 porta-potties in the start area, but that’s nowhere near enough for 31,352 runners.  There were news reports of people complaining about the lack of TP in the porta-johns.  We found that out last year, so we brought our own. 

- The half- and full-marathon routes split at 11.5 miles.  With only 3,961 running the marathon, the course emptied out real quick.  So did the spectators, although we still had some great pockets of support until we met up with the half-marathon group again at 19.5 miles.

- At the 13.1-mile point, I was right on my planned pace to break four hours.  I hit the half-marathon at 2:03:35, which poised me well for a comfortable negative split.  But even when I reached this point, I knew that sub-4 wouldn’t happen.  Thanks to a tailwind for the past six miles, the heat was already getting to me.  I was running a comfortable 9:15-ish pace, but my heart rate was wavering between 150-155, which is high Zone 4 for me.  I backed off a bit to see if the heart rate would settle down, which it didn’t, even though this portion of the course was pretty flat; a couple of minor hills pushed me into Zone 5, even though I was backing off the pace. 

- By mile 14, I kept thinking about the mantra – “It’s not who’s fastest, but who slows down least”.  Folks were fading fast.  Much faster than me.  I was feeling good and was still positive on the outcome.

- Out along the flat of the river between miles 15-17, many folks were commenting on how surprised they were at how hilly the first half was.  I was surprised last year, too, so I understand where they were coming from.  If you run this race, IT IS NOT FLAT!  Matter of fact, the hill during mile 18, especially after several flat miles, will kick your ass.  Up until this point, I had only been walking the water stops.  But starting at this hill, I had several unplanned walk sessions.  I started feeling gentle cramping in the quads, but nothing debilitating.  So I just kept running through it and keeping a close eye on things, backing off before things locked up on me.  Here’s the profile of this year’s course, with 1,420’ of elevation gain and 1,525’ of elevation loss, for a net loss of 105’:

So how do you like the look of that wall at mile 18?  It feels like it looks.

- Joining back up with the half-marathon crowd at mile 19.5 was interesting.  So many on both sides of the street were walking.  The only disappointing thing about the course changes was that it took away the most interesting view for me.  Last year, we rejoined at about mile 18.5 and the way the courses were laid out, we ran straight at each other for half a mile before we turned and followed the same road.  With such a huge difference in the number of runners between the half and full, it was a very surreal scene.  But not this year.

- Just after mile 20, it was very, very tempting to turn right with the half marathon crowd and run the last 400 yards to the half-marathon finish line, ending the marathon at about 20.5 miles.  But I wasn’t going to do that.  The tide turned on me a bit through the next few miles as I started to get passed by more than I was passing.  But I was still moving forward, unlike many others.

- The next few miles where where I really started noticing the heat casualties.  The medical support crews were getting their workouts in, sprinting from one crumpled heap to the next.  Most folks were OK, just needing to set down for a bit in the shade.  But quite a few got rides to the hospital.  The sirens were wailing for the last few hours that we were in the area.

- Several times over the last five miles, folks had hoses out.  That really helped.  The winds were gusty at this point, so any amount of water on the body helped cool me down.  Honestly, at this point the heat wasn’t getting to me.  I was overall pretty comfortable, since I was keeping myself soaking wet with cups of water and the hoses.  At one point I even asked a guy if he’d be uncomfortable if I told him I loved him.  He had a good laugh, which was the intent.  The volunteers really rocked, standing out in the sun all day to make sure we were comfortable.

- The last mile was good.  I called my mom, who was waiting at the finish line.  I told here that I’d be there in about ten minutes.  So I couldn’t disappoint.  I started pushing the pace, really keeping the quads on the edge of cramping up.  I turned the tide again and started passing people left and right.  The crowds started getting thicker and completely lined both sides with about one-half mile left.  They definitely helped me push the pace as hard as I could.  The mile between 25-26 was a 9:05 and the last .2 mile was average 7:43, with the last hundred yards peaking at 6:22 and my heart rate deep into zone 5c (>167bpm).  Another strong, strong finish.  I just wish I knew where that energy was earlier in the race.

- Right after the finish I struggled to stay upright as mom pointed me towards the showers to cool down.  They were a huge relief.  I stood there for a few minutes and caught my breath, then moved to get my finisher’s medal.  Right after the lovely lady put it around my neck, another lovely lady handed me two sponges that had been soaking in ice water.  One went down the back of my shirt, one went down the front.

Post-race

- CMM has a good post-run spread for the runners before releasing them “into the wild”.  Lots of food and drink.  And dozens of coolers full of ice-cold Cytomax, my preferred post-run beverage. 

- Lots of sirens wailing in the distance. 

- Goddess and my sister walked on in, finishing another half-marathon together.  I know they weren’t comfortable, but I’m proud of both of them for pushing through and finishing in the heat.

 

Vignettes

- The porta-potty stop was funny.  I spied two of them at mile 4.5 and bee-lined for them, even though it meant I had to cut across half the road (and the masses).  I got there to find no line at all.  Both porta-potties were shaking pretty violently.  The doors flung open on both at the same time and two very, very portly police officers walked out.  Turns out the porta-potties were setting on the edge of the wheelchair ramp for the corner, so they were not even.  Standing in there was like standing in the back of a Greyhound bus as it speeds down the rough interstate.  It was an experience.

- To the volunteer working at the water stop at mile 10, I am truly sorry.  Just a few feet earlier, I was handed a cup full of Cytomax and ice.  It was very refreshing.  But I couldn’t  eat the ice.  I didn’t want to just drop the cup since someone would slip on the ice.  So I looked for a break in the runners and a clear area to toss the cup off to the side of the road.  So I did.  What I didn’t see was the girl standing at the table.  The cup hit the edge of the curb and shot ice up everywhere, which clearly surprised her.  Again, I AM SORRY!

- Right before the two races split at mile 11.5, several guys had a beer table set up.  I asked if they would be at mile 25, which they laughed at.  Bastages.  ;^).

- A few feet after the beer table, a couple was running with their recently acquired beer.  Just as I passed, she dropped her cup right next to her, spraying beer all over my legs.  Clearly she was the karmic twin of the water table lady.  Damn that’s karma is a bitch.

- All along the course there were bands and cheerleading squads.  Just after the half-marathon point, a cheerleading squad was in costume as the “Heffers”.  They were wearing shirts and pants made to look like they were cows.  Pretty funny.  But girls, I must tell you that tying inflated surgical gloves on your belly to look like udders probably wasn’t the best thing to do.  Just a thought.

- At the top of the long hill at mile 18, I saw and experienced something that choked me up.  Everyone was walking or shuffling along.  Off to the side stood a brother and sister, both aged right around 6-8 years old.  They were standing side-by-side, holding out their hands to give the runners high-5’s.  Every single runner that I saw completely broke their line in order to walk single file between the two of them and give them high-5’s.  Awesome!

- At about mile 19.5, when both races were headed down the same street, but on opposite sides, I saw a family waiting for mom.  The son, who was probably 8, was making some odd motions with his hands.  As I got next to him, I saw that he was watching a caterpillar walk on his fingers.  Very cool.

- At mile 21, a lady was cheering “If this were any easier, we’d call it football”.  I laughed.  Then a few miles later I laughed as I saw a guy headed out to the turnaround wearing a shirt with the same saying. 

- At the water stop just before mile 25, a couple ran by and said “Hey, we did that race”.  I was wearing my race shirt from my LBL 60K, mainly because it was so small and breathable.  Apparently they had a different experience than I, because when I said that I had more fun there, the wife said “No way, there was too much mud”.  I couldn’t have disagreed more.  I never saw them again.

 

The GBU

The Good:

- My performance.  Even though I was shooting for a sub-4 race and I didn’t get it, then shooting for any PR (and didn’t get it), I finished this course less than three minutes slower than last year, when it was rainy, cloudy and 20 degrees cooler.  That right there proved to me that had conditions been similar, I would have crushed my PR.

- Fueling, hydration and electrolyte intake went very, very well.

- Nip Guards.  I had never worn these before.  I broke the cardinal rule and used something in a race that I had never used before.  But given the forecasted temps, I knew that I couldn’t wear my standard tight lycra shirt under my running shirt.  I’d roast (and likely would have DNF’d).  So we saw these at the expo and grabbed them.  They were great!

- I picked up a great shirt at the expo.  It’s for a run that I wish I could participate in, but we’ll be in Germany.  It’s The Bourbon Chase, a 200-mile relay race along the Bourbon Trail of Kentucky.  Right through the mother lode of great American bourbon.  The shirt is a great performance t-shirt, with the saying “Will Run for Bourbon” emblazened across the front.

The Bad - Other than the porta-potty lines at the start area, not much.  But…

- Lots of people broke the cardinal rule of t-shirts, namely “Do not wear the shirt of the event that you are parcipating in, before you finish the race”.  Not that I’m a stickler for such things, but for the marathon, that meant that the folks were wearing a black technical shirt.  Granted, the shirt was very light and airy, but I’m absolutely sure that the black really heated those folks up.  C’mon folks, spend the $15 for a light-colored singlet at the expo.

The Ugly – For me, not a single thing.  But I am saddened by the death of a local Soldier, who collapsed and died right after finishing the half marathon.  His mother and father were out from Montana and ran the half also, so they were both there when it happened.  The medical authorities were adamant that it wasn’t heat related, first explaining that it was a “sudden cardiac event”.  Reports today say that his lungs were filled with fluid.  Regardless of the cause, a seemingly healthy young man’s life ended.

So that’s the race.  In a very, very large nutshell.

With bands every mile and tons of cheering support over most of the course, I can definitely recommend this one.  But be warned that it is a huge race, with over 31,000 people.  And it’s expected to grow even more in the coming years.

If you do decide to do this race, I’ll leave you with this little hint:

– If you are parking, DO NOT follow the crowd and use the exits from I-24 next to LP Field; you’ll be in line for hours.  Instead, take the I-40/I-65 exit for Charlotte Ave, then cut east across downtown and cross the Woodland Street Bridge (the same one you’ll run across later).  I was able to pull straight into an empty parking lot right across the street from LP Field and right into a waiting shuttle bus.  All told, the whole trip, from dropping Goddess, my mom and sister off until I was back with them, took me 30 minutes.  Much better than the hour sitting in line just to get off the interstate last year.

CMM 2009

Just a quick post.  Family’s in town and lots of things going on right now, so the race report will wait.

Let’s just say it was freakin’ hot.  The temperature at the 7am start was right around 70F (21C) and it just got hotter from there.  By noon, it was 86F (30C) with a gusty southerly wind of 12-25mph.  All week long I knew that it was to be a run of survival, although I was still motivated to break four hours.  That didn’t happen.  But I’m still quite pleased with the results, considering the conditions.

Finished in 4:32:20, less than three minutes slower than last year’s edition, which was overall 20F (11C) cooler.

 

Even with the heat, I was on track through the half marathon to negative split and break four hours.  But even then I already knew it wasn’t going to happen.  I was OK with that.

Lots of folks took rides in ambulances.  The heat was taking its toll.  Unfortunately, a 25-year old Soldier collapsed and died after finishing the half-marathon, but they are saying it wasn’t heat related, but a “cardiac event”.

Damn shame.

RUTS

Goddess loves me.

She truly, truly loves me.

 

Why else would she tolerate this stuff? 

A bit of cajoling, but no begging.

 

And you’ll notice that there’s a new race listed to the left.

Run Under the Stars, aka RUTS.

 

Now you might think that this is just another race.  Which it might have been, if not for the timing. 

You see, it’s overnight on 30 May.  Smack dab in the middle of some very, very, very busy weeks.

In the two weeks prior to the race, we’ll have our house completely packed up and moved.  Then the house must be cleaned and vacated.  Son graduates and moves on with his life.  So when race day comes, Goddess and I will already be living in a hotel.  And two days after the race is over, we’ll be on a plane to Germany.

So like I said, Goddess truly, truly loves me.

 

You can click on the pic above to go to the race page, put on by the same great folks that put on the 60K Land Between the Lakes Trail Run.  But I’ll save you a bit of time.  Here’s the description of the race course:

“Carson Park Horse Track, Paducah, KY, is a certified 1/2 mile track composed of dirt and finely crushed limestone. It is groomed daily and will be set up with a 1/2 inch cushion to make it easy on your legs. The track drains well and does not get sloppy, even in the event of rain. Every two hours we will change direction to make up for the slight banking of the track. This lighted jewel is flat, and contains no trip hazards.”

Now that’s an exercise in mental toughness.  Ten hours of going around in circles.  Overnight, when I should be asleep. 

Except this one is flat and soft. 

Should be.

Could be.

May be.

A distance PR.

 

And since it will finish Sunday morning, that means something else entirely.  It’s the last Sunday of the month, which means that the local brew-pub puts on a “Run for Beer” 5K in the afternoon.  A hilly 5K, followed by a free pint of beer.  But only after a little nap.

What a great way to end our stay in Kentucky.

(oops, probably should have clued Goddess in to that part of the plan before posting it to the interweb.)

Rockin’ Weekend

Unfortunately, no concerts were involved.

Friday was a beautiful day.  Cloudy, a bit of drizzle, temp in the low-50’s.  A gorgeous day for a long run.  And that’s what I did.  A 20-miler, my last “long” run before next month’s Country Music Marathon.  The plan was go out with the race in mind, negative split the course and keep my overall average pace within 30-seconds of my goal pace for the marathon.  And that’s exactly what I did.

First was figuring out a course the replicated the CMM, which is fairly hilly during the opening miles, then flattens out as the course winds its way along the Cumberland River.  I think I did that pretty well, although I know this 20 mile course is a bit tougher.

On top is my course, on bottom is the CMM course that I ran last year.  This year they’ve made some minor changes to the course, but nothing drastic.

 

At the risk of jinxing myself, I am now confident in a significant PR for a marathon.  Now it’s just a matter of managing my fatigue, tapering well and avoiding a last-minute injury.

Saturday was a day at work.  It started out slow, then turned into quite an interesting afternoon as we issued a tornado watch for the area and then watched everything blow up around us.  It’s one of those days of mixed emotions.  You don’t want it to happen, but when you lay it all out there and forecast it when the day is nice and bright and sunny and there isn’t any activity anywhere near, you sure do hope that it does; y’all abuse us weather folks enough, remembering only the times that we get it wrong (which really isn’t that often). 

But this guy got it wrong:

  

So very wrong.

Once the storms blew up around to our west and headed our way, we kept our fingers crossed that there wouldn’t be any significant damage and ideally no injuries. 

It rolled through and we had reports of hail and wind damage in the area, as well as one highly questionable report of a funnel cloud, that, if the spotter was correct, would have put the funnel directly over my head as I was standing outside.  A good look at the radar afterwards confirmed that there wasn’t any rotation. 

But the real worry was up north, out of our area of concern.  An EF-3 tornado rolled through a rural area of Kentucky.  We were interrogating it pretty hard on the radar and shaking our heads, but had to turn our attention to those storms that were still coming at us.  Luckily there weren’t any reports of significant damage or injuries in our area of concern.

Sunday turned out to be much, much colder.  Everyone out west got the snow, we just got the cold.  So after work it was an easy 5-mile run in tights and doubled up long-sleeves.  And that run took me over 60 miles for the week. 

And that definitely puts me on track for a marathon PR.

But we shall see.