Dragging Across the Finish at Maymont X-Terra

Well, I finished the Maymont (Richmond) X-Terra Half Marathon though it would be more accurate, perhaps, to say that it finished me. I didn't have an awful time at all but I really struggled after mile 7. I finished in 2:01:25 (14th in Men 50-54, 215th overall). The time was disappointing because I had run this same race last year in 1:49:xx and had run another half marathon 5 weeks ago in 1:53:xx.

I'm not sure what happened. I had drunk about 22 ounces of water within about 2 hours prior to the race and drank about 30-36 ounces of Gatorade/Powerade/water during the race. Maybe I wasn't hydrated enough because after I finished I drank another 24 ounces of Powerade and 24 ounces of water. The humidity was high -- 98% -- so, even though the temperature was around 68°, I was sweating buckets-full.

I had a whole wheat bagel and banana about an hour before the race, one Shot Blok about 15 minutes before, and a Gu-like gel at mile 7. So, I think I had enough carbs/electrolytes.

I had run 14.4 miles last Saturday (at 8:07 mpm) but cut back on mileage last week and felt fresh and ready to go at the beginning of the race.

At any rate, I just ran out of gas after mile 7 and walked a lot during the last half.

Anyway, I'm disappointed but also know that those days just happen somtimes. But, if anyone has a suggestion(s) for me, I'm all ears.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

In the Books -- Patrick Henry Half Marathon

Well, it's over. I ran the 2nd annual Patrick Henry Half Marathon in Ashland, VA this morning. Starting temperature was somewhere around 65°, so not bad at all.

And this was a well-run race. They cap entrants at 1500 but only had about 1000 register. The pre-race stuff was relaxed but efficient -- at least 13 porta-johns, bib/chip pick-up was smooth, and they used disposable chips. The course and finish were done right, too -- 8 (I think) water/Powerade stations, Gu's at either mile 8 or 9, very cold and wet towels at the finish (that was WONDERFUL!), best finisher's technical shirt that I've seen, people handing us a bottle of ice cold water at the finish line, great selection of post-race food, very quick posting of finish times (my watch matched their chip time perfectly).

Three of us who have trained together decided we would try to go out at 8:30 mpm and then see how we felt. Well, adrenaline took over and we went out at 8:15 mpm, maintaining that for 7 miles. Though I really felt like I should have been able to maintain that pace, I slowed down. Still, I did fine for 9 miles but really hit the wall and ended up walking more than I wanted to do over the next 3 miles. I was able to pick it back up in the last 1.1 miles to an 8:36 mpm pace and finished in 1:53.10. Seeing my wife and daughter with their neon sign at about mile 12.8 was a real boost and, as you can see, I was even able to smile.

I'm happy with that time. There were times during the training when I wondered if I would even be able to break 2 hours. However, I still think I can do better and am pondering what I need to change. I didn't hurt -- I was just tired during miles 10-12. I had eaten a Gu before the race and had, by mile 10, eaten 2 Shot Bloks and drunk 16-20 oz of Gatorade. Maybe I need to eat another Gu at mile 7 or so. I'll keep experimenting.

Next up -- perhaps the Maymont X-Terra Half Marathon at the end of September. However, at mile 10, I found myself thinking, And why am I considering the Maymont again?

Enough (OK, yeah, too much). This evening I plan to watch Ryan Hall take on the Olympic Marathon. I'm still predicting bronze for him with the Kenyans taking gold and silver (Ryan gets gold in 2012) but one of my running companions today thought Ryan might even break 2 hours for the marathon. Now, that would be something!

Run well, y'all,
Bob

Summarizing the Research on Diet, Exercise and Nutrition

Granted, a rather pedantic blog title, Summarizing the Research on Diet, Exercise and Nutrition. But, this morning, the Diet Blog posted a bit on some summaries of a large number of studies that have been conducted on diet, exercise and nutrition. The summaries are based on the work of The Cochrane Collaboration which...

...is an international, non-profit, independent organisation, established to ensure that up-to-date, accurate information about the effects of healthcare interventions is readily available worldwide. It produces and disseminates systematic reviews of healthcare interventions, and promotes the search for evidence in the form of clinical trials and other studies of the effects of interventions....Cochrane Reviews are systematic assessments of evidence of the effects of healthcare interventions, intended to help people to make informed decisions about health care, their own or someone else's. Cochrane Reviews are needed to help ensure that healthcare decisions throughout the world can be informed by high quality, timely research evidence.

I found Diet Blog's summaries interesting on a couple of levels. First, some of the summaries -- notably Exercise for overweight or obesity and Low glycemic index/Load diets for overweight and obesity -- supported theories with which I already agreed and for which I already had personal anecdotal evidence (a high-falutin' way of saying, They worked for me). Others show evidence that something I'm doing may be a waste of effort and money -- for instance, Omega 3 fatty acids for prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease (maybe I'm wasting my money on the fish oil capsule I take each day??).

One of these days, maybe I'll get around to actually reading the Cochrane Collaboration's documents for myself. In the meantime, I'm going to think about the advisability of not spending money on fish oil capsules.

What do you think?

Half Marathon weekend coming up. I'm tapering this week -- 4 moderate miles yesterday, 4.4 moderate miles today, 5 easy miles tomorrow, and a 5-mile tempo run on Thursday. I may do a very easy 2 miles on Friday just to keep loose -- but I may not.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

MInd: 2 for 3

After my awful 13.1 mile run last week and then reading all the posts on the Runners' Lounge blog on the Tough Stuff, I made up my mind that I was going to do whatever it took to have a better run today -- scheduled 14.1 miler. So, I tried to hydrate well on Friday, get a decent night's sleep Friday night, focus on having a positive mental outlook, get a mantra, and run smart. It worked:

Hydration on Friday: at least 86 oz of liquids plus fruit
Sleep: 7 hours
Mental: I'm looking forward to this run.
Mantra: Uwe hodari na moyo wa ushujaa (Swahili from Joshua 1:6-9, Be strong and courageous)
Target pace was 8:47 and I ran at 8:49 and stayed with a group of 3 others

I felt very good through 11 miles -- in fact, I was surprised when we hit the 10 mile point. At mile 12, I was having to tell myself more often to be strong and courageous -- I really wanted to walk but decided that I had to run through the half marathon distance. Then, when we got to mile 13, there was only 1 mile remaining and I couldn't quit. I ran the full distance with the exception of the water stops. While I was as physically tired as last week, I felt so much better having gotten through the mental stuff that I don't feel nearly as badly.

So, out of the last 3 longer runs of 11, 13, and 14 miles, my mind has prevailed on the 11 and 14 mile runs. YES!!!

I actually ran 14.92 miles because I ran 0.75 miles to the start of the group run.

I hope your run today is just as good -- mind over body.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

Tough Stuff: Hard Runs, Heat, Humidity

It's Take It and Run Thursday at Runner's Lounge. The topic for today is The Tough Stuff.

When it comes to running, I am a confirmed hater of heat and humidity. Trying to train over the last 2 months for an August 23 half marathon has been the most difficult period of running since I got serious about it 5 years ago. Frankly, it's been a little discouraging -- no, I'm not about to give up as I'm too mule-headed for that, but I think that's one reason I haven't posted a blog in about 2.5 weeks.

Just a fer instance: last Saturday was a scheduled 13.1 mile run with the half marathon training team. I woke up feeling good -- looking forward to the run and thinking I would do well. Even 70° and 84% humidity seemed doable. But, from the moment we started running, I was sluggish. By the time we hit mile 8, I was in bad shape (I was hydrating and had ingested a couple of Gu's). Even shorter runs have been hard -- a 6-miler on Tuesday and 4.5 miles today.

The toughest of the tough stuff for me? -- Track repeats, especially 1600m repeats at 90-95% max. (I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam, I am. -- Not sure why, but that Seuss quote seemed appropriate.)

I've decided there are several factors that are probably a part of this and I'm going to try to work on them over the next 4 weeks before the actual race:

1. Heat and humidity: I have decided that some folks just handle it better than others. David, a college friend of mine, ran in temps that were upper 90's a few days ago. I've not even attempted anything over 80°. While I certainly can't control the weather, I am going to try to do a better job of hydrating well the day before a longish run. I already run early -- 5:15-5:30 AM start during the week and a 6:45 AM start on Saturday.

2. Overtraining: Coach Dean Hebert, blogger at Running Advice and News, posted a Q&A from a reader about hitting a plateau and digressing. The reader's symptoms were similar to mine (though I haven't struggled for 5 months) and one of Hebert's suggestions was that she was overtraining or that her training was stale, too consistent. I can implement some of the suggestions. In fact, I did that today -- I backed off the mileage a bit, ran 4.5 miles rather than 6, and I added several relatively short fartleks during the run to break the steady pace.

3. Mental stamina: Part of my difficulty is that discouragement can be a cyclical downslide. My pride makes me think that every run should at least be good and I really expect every run to be better than the previous one. I know better than that, so, in the words of my favourite TV psychologist, Bob Newhart, "Stop it -- S-T-O-P, new word, I-T -- STOP IT!" As Benjamin Cheever said in Strides: "The runner's high is built on a foundation of runner's lows. The joy is often paid for in advance."

(You HAVE to watch the Newhart video but don't have a mouth full of food or beverage when you do. Word to the wise.)



Run well, y'all,
Bob

Speedwork Suffering

I'm having trouble getting my track work done in preparation for the half marathon. The training plan today called for 7 miles total with easy warm-up and cool downs, 1600 meters x 3 @7:00 and 800 meter jogs between. I managed 1600 meters x 2 @ 6:53 and 6:55, 800 meters x 1 @3:27, and 400 meters x 1 @1:42, all with 800 meter jogs in between. I couldn't sustain what was to have been the 3rd 1600 meters. Not quite sure why I can't do this. The heat was tolerable today -- 69° and 71% humidity. I was well hydrated, drank Gatorade during each job, and had downed a Gu (chocolate) prior to running.

Maybe it's a function of age -- but I could do this 6 months ago. Perhaps it's because I swapped the easy week this week for next week's harder week because of vacation in the mountains next week -- did my legs (or my brain) just need the break? One consolation -- 3 weeks ago when I was supposed to do the same workout, I only did 1 1600 meter repeat and 1/4 of a lap on the 2nd 1600 repeat. I did improve.

SPLITS:
1.9993 mi x 17:49.75 (easy warm-up)
1600 mt x 6:53.09
800 mt x 4:23.76 (jog)
1600 mt x 6:54.88
800 mt x 4:45.79 (jog)
800 mt x 3:26.86
400 mt x 2:47.15 (jog)
400 mt x 1:42.27
1.9993 mi x 17:36.24 (easy cool down)

Total run: 7.48 miles at an average pace of 8:52 mpm.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

Embrace the Pain

Wednesday evening, the Half Marathon Training Team sponsored an injury prevention clinic with a local sports doctor, Dr. Dec. She commented that "Running hurts. Did anyone tell you that?" We all chuckled but it was a knowing chuckle. Running is great -- I love it. There are huge physical and emotional benefits but one does have to endure a certain amount of discomfort. I'm finding that, even after almost 5 years of steady running and after having tamed the 10-mile barrier, that longer runs and faster runs do leave me with some aches.

Looking ahead to today's Mayor's Marathon, the Anchorage Daily News posted an article yesterday on this very topic. Here's a excerpt -- the full story can be read here:

Prepare for pain.

The forecast for many of you 26.2-mile first-timers is partly miserable with occasional periods of suffering and a mild chance of legitimate anguish. Doesn't matter if you're a lickety-split type or someone who gets passed on training runs by people pushing strollers -- the marathon does not discriminate.

Still, it's important to embrace your agony. You've worked hard for this day -- if not, big bummer for you -- and you've no doubt persevered through some difficult training, so you have experience with excruciation. You're going to endure some bad patches Saturday, sure, but you'll be in good company.

While this article is in reference to a full marathon, the same holds true for a half marathon (at least for us mere mortals) -- even a good, hard 10K leaves me with some pain.

Ran 10 miles today -- 7 with the training team and then 3 more on my own. Pace was good, actually a little fast for the training plan, at 8:18 mpm. I've ended up running with 3-5 "young" guys when the group runs and they took me to the cleaners on mile 7 today. I console myself with the excuse that they were heading for the barn and I still had 3 more miles to go -- it makes me feel better. (grin) These guys are fun to run with (thanks to you all -- Hank, Todd, John, Chris, Drew) and we push each other to do just a little better each time we run.

Run well, y'all (and embrace the pain),
Bob

Pushup Update and Hill

Andrew, at Andrew is Getting Fit, termed the 100 Pushup Challenge as not easy. That's an understatement. I think impossible is closer to the truth. I couldn't get through day 1!! (sad face) I did the first two sets (10 each set) and 2 pushups of the 3rd set with my arms and lats screaming at me the whole time -- still sore from the initial test. After the 2nd pushup of the 3rd set, I just collapsed. I'm a weak wimp -- oh, well, let's go for a long run.


Today was hill day (picture above is from the top looking down -- the white mailbox on the right is our finish line). Whoa! Pretty tough. Yeah, I know, it doesn't look that bad but that's the weakness of a 1-dimensional picture. Can a picture on a computer screen be 2-dimensional? Here are the results in order of fastest hill to slowest. Each uphill was about .13 miles with a climb of somewhere between 42' (gMap-Pedometer) and 60' (coach's Garmin) and was punctuated by a slow downhill:

# -- Seconds
6 -- 51.58
1 -- 51.72
5 -- 52.13
4 -- 52.52
3 -- 52.87
2 -- 53.39
Variance: 01.81 seconds between fastest and slowest

I've got a sore patella tendon -- it's not bad but I'm icing and taking a low dosage of ibuprophen. Hopefully by the end of the weekend, I'll have a Chopat strap (patella band) to use when I run for the next few weeks.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

Up to Tempo

Are you posting your miles in support of Ryan Hall? Click below, register, and post.



Tempo runs are so much more my "speed" than track work, either 800 meter or 1600 meter repeats. The one advantage of the track work is that I can pretty easily check my pace at short intervals -- every 100 meters or so. But, on the road, I am so bad at estimating my pace.

Today, I really wanted to stick closer to my target since I had 4 tempo miles to do. Oh, well. I guess if I can do them faster, it's not a real problem...

TEMPO SPLITS

1.00 x 8:51.33 (warm-up)
1.00 x 7:25.56
1.00 x 7:18.89
1.00 x 7:04.83
1.00 x 7:32.69
1.11 x 9:10.71 (cool down)

Even with the cooler temperature this morning, I finished absolutely drenched.

Run well, ya'll,
Bob

Dogwood Dell Run

Today's 9-and-change was so much better than last week's 10 miler. The difference? I think it was the lower humidity -- rather than 86%, it was 66%. This was the Saturday group run and I ran most of the way with Hank and Chris (thanks, guys). I stopped my watch for the 2 hydration points because I wanted to know the actual running time. Total time was 1:16:11 -- a pace of 8:19.8 mpm.

We went to Dogwood Dell to start -- part of the downtown park complex that includes Dogwood Dell, Byrd Park, and Northbank Park -- and ran through some of the older, historic parts of Richmond. The course was relatively flat (well, except for the nasty hill when we went over I-195 at about mile 8.5).

Here's hoping that your run today is just as satisfying.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

Ahhhhh!

What a difference 10° makes. After months of 120° at 5:30 AM -- OK, no, hyperbole alert! -- let's try that again, it just felt like months of 120°. After 4+ days of 74° and 84%+ humidity at 5:30 AM, this morning it was 64° and 83% humidity. It felt so good and I was so glad. I was scheduled to do my first ever hill workout with the Patrick Henry Half Marathon training group and doing that in the heat/humidity combination of the last several days was not going to be pleasant.

About 12 of us met up and did an easy 1 mile warm-up (9:42) and then began our hill workout. The hill was 0.13 miles with an elevation gain of roughly 60'. Based on the pace chart that had been distributed and my goal for the half, I was counting on doing the repeats at 1:16.4. But, having no idea how fast that really was, I just followed the coach. When we turned around at the top, we had done the hill in 53.16 -- hard but not a killer. I ended up doing 5 repeats and was tired but not totally exhausted. It was fun doing that with a group, too -- much better than it would have been by myself.

Here are the figures:

Up: 0:53.16
Down: 1:31.39
Up: 0.54.97
Down: 1:30.14
Up: 0:53.26
Down: 1:32.26
Up: 0:51.67
Down: 1:31.92
Up: 0:51.62

We ended with a .71 mile cool down. When I got home, I did an additional 2 miles to get a total of 4.9 miles at an overall average pace of 8:26 mpm.

After all my moaning yesterday, it looks like at least most of the bad of the last couple of weeks has been, in fact, the weather. I'm just no acclimated to summer mornings, yet.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

Bummed

I hope it's just this awful heat wave that's hit Virginia and surrounding states, but the last 10 days of running have been mostly awful. It's not really that my times have been bad -- yesterday, for instance, I did a 3 mile tempo run and averaged 7:11 mpm -- it's just that it's been really hard. These high temps and humidity did come on quickly, so maybe I just haven't acclimated, yet. Still, on Saturday, while trying to do 10 miles, I wasn't sure if I could keep this up.

I have tried to change my hydration to meet the heat challenge. For Saturday's 10-miler, I packed Gatorade -- 20 oz of Glacier Freeze (I guess -- it was pale blue) in a used (but clean) water bottle. The training team directors had also put out 2 water/gatorade (red) stops on the route and had water/gatorade at the finish. I still walked 2-3 times in the last mile. Maybe it's just mental.

Anyway, **if** anyone has been looking for a post from me since last Saturday (1 June), I was just too bummed about running to write.

I'm training for the Ashland (VA) Patrick Henry Half Marathon in late August (that should be a cool run -- NOT!). Here are my runs for the last 10 days:

Tuesday, 3 June: 6.4 miles @ 8:07 mpm
Wednesday, 4 June: 6.6 miles @ 8:03 mpm
Thursday, 5 June: 5.8 miles @ 8:55 mpm (was supposed to be 1600 m repeats @ 7:05)
Saturday, 7 June: 10.3 miles @ 8:41 mpm
Monday, 9 June: 5.3 miles @ 7:51 mpm

Tempo Splits:
1.00 x 8:41.73
1.00 x 7:15.08
1.00 x 7:13.05
1.00 x 7:05.98
1.26 x 10.59.49

Tuesday, 10 June: 4.6 miles @ 8:14 mpm

And, yes, I'm a wimp about heat. The morning figures when I've run have been 73-74° with 81-88% humidity -- even to me, that doesn't sound blistering. I come in the house, though, looking like I've been swimming and forgot to take a towel!

Run well, y'all,
Bob

Miscellaneous: Dehydration, Weight Loss

Yesterday was my first run with the local YMCA training group for the Patrick Henry Half Marathon in late August. The group was running 6.1 miles and it was a good run (8:11 mpm pace) -- I enjoyed the miles and the conversations. I met a group of guys who run on Wednesday mornings at 5:30 and they invited me to join them. That should be just the motivation I need to get over my "Wednesday 'Don't-Wanna's'".

After I ran with the group, I headed out for an additional 4 miles (my Runner's World training plan called for a 10 mile long run). Whoa! Summer is here. The first couple of miles of the extra weren't bad but by the time I hit mile 3, I was wiped out. I ended up with a pace of 8:44 mpm for that 4 miles and walked a couple of times.

I think I just hadn't drunk enough water for the weather (75° or so by that time and 80%+ humidity) and probably was low on sodium and electrolytes. Yeah, I know, 75° is not hot for many folks, but it is for me. "Perfect", for me, is 45-55° and I even like running when it's 30-45°. I think I'm going to have to carry something like Gatorade or Powerade for my longer runs for the next few months. I felt drained all day and I've been doing 10-mile runs for a number of months.

Viv at the blog, I'm Not Fit to Run, is sponsoring an Independence Weight Loss Challenge. I need to get rid of 5-10 pounds and thought this might be just the thing to spur me on. If a little virtual competition would help you, check it out. The deadline for sending in your initial weight is today, Sunday, 1 June.



Run well (and hydrated), y'all,
Bob

Distance PR and 9 on the 9th

Today is the day for the 2nd virtual race sponsored by Non-Runner Nancy, the 9 on the 9th. My plan for training for the Richmond 10K had me doing 12 miles and I had planned to do them easy. Figured I'd just take my average pace and report that for the 9 miles of the virtual race.

I run with a YMCA training group at 8:00 on Saturdays and they were going to run 5 miles, so I headed out early to do what I thought would be 7.5 before the group run. I left a few minutes later than planned and picked up the pace a bit to try to meet the group on time. When I got to the Y, the group had already gone. So I signed in and took off again. Neat thing was that I was behind the novice group so got a real boost by passing them trying to catch my group. I found the back-o-the-pack runners in my group but felt so good at the pace I was running that I just kept on. I finished those 5 miles in 38:49.6 and thought, Wow! A total of 1:42:13 is not a bad time for 12.5 miles. I signed out of the ghttp://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifroup run and took off for a short run home. My total time was 1:47:11.4 and I thought I had done a half-marathon. Pretty pleased since that was faster than my only real half-marathon race time.

Stretched, took a shower and sat down to plot out the run to see just how far it actually was. When I plugged the figures into my running log, I couldn't believe what I saw. I double-checked the map to be sure that I had plotted the route right; I checked my watch to make sure I had put in the right figures for my time. I had.

Turns out the my first route was 8 miles (I forgot to check my map before leaving and ran the wrong streets). Then, the 5 mile group run turned out to be 5.5. By the time I added the short bit home after the group run, the total was my longest run ever -- 14.11 miles. That put my pace at 7:35.8 mpm. I'm still in shock. One of the anomalies of running is that a slow pace can feel so awful one day while a fast pace can feel so good on another.

So, 9 on the 9th miles @ 7:35.8 mpm is 1:08:22. See all the virtual race reports here. and, probably, here. Congratulations to all who participated in the race.

Run well, y'all,
Bob
Richmond

Take It and Run Thursday: Half Marathons

Runner's Lounge sponsors a Take It and Run Thursday when they invite lounge members to share their collective wisdom about a particular running topic. Today's topic is Half Marathons. Since I'm such an expert on that topic, having run exactly 1 (one) half marathon in the entire 53 years and 9 months of my life, I thought I'd jump right in.

That first and only half marathon (Richmond's Maymont X-Country Half) did teach me some things (my profile picture is my finish of that half):

1. A half marathon is not a cake walk. Granted, what I ran was not the typical half since it was a mixed-surface run -- roads, trails, bridges, steps, etc. The terrain made it more difficult than I expected. But, unlike Amy, I'm not sure it's a run that everybody should attempt, but anyone who does needs to be prepared for it to be hard.

2. Train for it. Yes, I know, there are some folks who can hop off the couch and run whatever. But most of us can't. I would advise anyone planning to do a half marathon to train specifically for that. I used a training plan from Runner's World (Smart Coach). Not only was it good to have some expert advice but it gave me the confidence that I could actually do the run in respectable form.

3. Build endurance. Long runs seem to me to be the key to a successful half marathon. I didn't do enough in preparation and my endurance suffered (well, I suffered) even though my time was still good.

4. Do some speed work. I ran either a tempo run or mile repeats once a week. Even though all my other runs in a week were at an "easy" pace, those special runs kept my speed from being negatively affected.

5. Don't start too fast. While that's true of any race, it seems to be especially important in a long race like a half. If you start too fast in a 5k race, the distance is short enough so that it won't kill you. But, start out too fast in a half and you still have a long, long way to go.

6. Run your own race. Related to #4 -- know how you run and follow the same pattern. In my everyday runs, even without planning to do so, I run the 1st mile at a fairly easy pace. Then I pick up the pace throughout the run. When I ran the half, we decided to aim for the average goal pace each mile. The first mile was right on target but then my body/mind did what it always does -- picked up the pace on succeeding miles. That lasted only 4-5 miles before I knew this wasn't working. Next time, I'll not plan to be consistent for every mile.

7. A partner is great. I almost forgot this one. Without the young man (my son's age) who ran with me -- and, yes, he had to slow way down -- I would not have done as well as I did. Justin (in the orange shirt in my profile picture) was a real encouragement, especially since the X-Country course is not spectator friendly. Hey, he even let this old man finish ahead of him. So, you can do a half by yourself, but you'll like it more if you're running with a friend.

As hard as it was, I will do the X-Country again, probably not in 2008 because of a conflict. I will be smarter and more prepared. In the meantime, I hope to do the Richmond Half in November.

Run well, y'all,
Bob