I was only able to make it out to two runs last week (week of 5/19/08). One was the regular Thursday night group run. I have been pleasantly surprised to see that as the weather has gotten warmer, the number of people has been increasing, to an average of about 10-12 people. This past Thursday was a much smaller group, only about 5 of us. As the Laminator mentioned on his blog, we spent the entire run chatting back and forth, mostly him giving me some very helpful tips (as well as confirmation) of my current treatment. It was great speaking with him and being able to bounce some questions of him. The other three speedsters in the group were well ahead of us to the point that we lost sight of them about a quarter into the run. I didn't really mind at all. Even though the Laminator and I were in the back of the pack, we ended up running 50:33 for the loop - about an 8:25 pace which is really good for me (a bit slow though for the Laminator). Even though I didn't feel like I was going that fast, it is amazing how running with someone else can allow you to go faster than you think.
In order to get my long run in for the week (and to make up for the fact that I only ran one other time during the week), I extended the run to 11 miles instead of 10. Although I started the run at 10:45 in the morning, it was already hot outside, which was not a good sign for me. I hate running in the heat - I tend to overheat very quickly and wear down mentally in high heat and humidity. I am much more of a cool/cold temperature runner. I planned on running my usual West Side route down the West Side highway and back (adding a half mile in each direction). The first half went pretty well, but I realized right away that the West Side had very little shade and it was going to suck out my energy on the way back. I tried to keep up a good pace and stop off at the few water stations to keep myself hydrated. Although I kept up a relatively consistent pace for the first half of the run, I knew that the second half would not be pretty. My split for the first half was 47:39 for 5.5 miles (about an 8:40 pace). I usually run about 8:25-8:30 pace when running my usual 10 mile run. After taking my PowerGel and a three minute rest, I started the second half of the run at about 11:45 or so and it was hot, and I knew that I probably had a struggle ahead of me. As I began my run back north up the West Side highway, I was desperate for some shade and found myself weaving back and forth to try and catch any sliver of road out of reach from the sun. Mentally I was in trouble. The sun was beating down, I was stopping at every water fountain, and I was well aware that I had another half hour or so still to go before the end of the run (this was feeling eerily familiar to my Nike Half 2007). I took a few walking breaks along the way (running up the hill back into Riverside Park and along the side streets on the way to CP), which I usually don't take, and kept on pushing myself any way I could to get back to Engineer's Gate. My time for the second half of the run was 54:15 (9:52 pace). This was the first time in many, many months that I found myself feeling sluggish, and struggling considerably (the heat was a huge factor for me, as usual). Given the weather conditions, I was not unhappy with my overall time of 1:41:55 (9:16 pace), but rather how I paced the run. My first half was about 7 minutes faster than the second (huge gap), in which I struggled considerably on the second half of the run. I went out too fast given the weather conditions and paid for it. Hopefully this is not a sign of the summer heat to come - because I won't be able to take it.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
RACE WELL EVERY TIME
Some good advice from our friends at Runner's World...
RACE WELL EVERY TIME
Use these rules gleaned from elite runners to race well all year long.
PUBLISHED 01/30/2008
For a weekend of thrilling races in New York City last November, I had the best seat in the house: the sidecar of the lead motorcycle. I was a stride away when Ryan Hall surged to the front at the Men's Olympic Marathon Trials, crushing the best field ever assembled. The next day at the ING New York City Marathon, I watched Martin Lel sprint to an amazing finish. Here are the most important lessons I observed that could help you in your next event, no matter your pace or distance.
PLAN: Make it to the starting line healthy You are only as strong as your weakest link. Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflezighi and 2:08 marathoner Abdi Abdirahman were favored to make the Olympic team, but Meb toed the line with a calf issue and Abdi had been plagued with a sore hip flexor. While these two powerhouses led early and battled hard, the stress of racing magnified their injuries. Meb fell to eighth place, and Abdi dropped out at mile 18.
ACTION: Know when to restInjuries happen, but by allowing ample recovery time during training, you can help avoid arriving at the start with aches and pains. Follow a hard day with one or two easy days, and a hard two weeks with an easy one (reduce mileage by 10 to 20 percent). Take a rest day at least every 10 days. And at the slightest hint of injury, reduce workload and intensity, or resort to cross-training, and seek physical therapy.
PLAN: Run your own race When the Trials pace picked up at mile nine, Brian Sell was left behind. But at mile 22, Sell passed Dan Browne and secured the third and final spot on the Olympic team. Had he gone with the early surge, however, the outcome might have been different. Fast early miles are not Sell's strength, and he knew that. Likewise, Lel knew his power was his savage final sprint. So he hung with the leaders until the finish was in sight, then he let his kick do the talking.
ACTION: Itemize your strengths Understand where you excel and where you don't by taking notes after races and analyzing past performances. Then develop a race strategy that maximizes your strengths--and stick to it.
PLAN: Finish strong Hall's and Lel's victories had something in common with the last four world records in the marathon--they all were run with a faster second half than first half. Running a negative-split race is all about energy management. The slower the early miles, the more fat you burn relative to glycogen, thus saving your primary energy source for later. Additionally, easing into a race gives your body time to process any lactic-acid buildup, thus delaying fatigue. Perhaps the biggest advantage is that you spend a smaller percentage of the race tired or in pain.
ACTION: Go negative Run the first half of your next 10-K or half or full marathon one to two percent slower than your projected goal time. (Negative splits aren't the best strategy for 5-Ks.) For a 44-minute 10-K, for example, that calculates to a first half run at a 7:11 to 7:15 pace, thus hitting the halfway mark at 22:30, followed by a 6:55 average for part two. Having to "make up" time can seem stressful to some runners, so practice negative splits during tempo runs to build confidence in the strategy. Over time, you'll be celebrating at the finish like Hall and Lel.
RACE WELL EVERY TIME
Use these rules gleaned from elite runners to race well all year long.
PUBLISHED 01/30/2008
For a weekend of thrilling races in New York City last November, I had the best seat in the house: the sidecar of the lead motorcycle. I was a stride away when Ryan Hall surged to the front at the Men's Olympic Marathon Trials, crushing the best field ever assembled. The next day at the ING New York City Marathon, I watched Martin Lel sprint to an amazing finish. Here are the most important lessons I observed that could help you in your next event, no matter your pace or distance.
PLAN: Make it to the starting line healthy You are only as strong as your weakest link. Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflezighi and 2:08 marathoner Abdi Abdirahman were favored to make the Olympic team, but Meb toed the line with a calf issue and Abdi had been plagued with a sore hip flexor. While these two powerhouses led early and battled hard, the stress of racing magnified their injuries. Meb fell to eighth place, and Abdi dropped out at mile 18.
ACTION: Know when to restInjuries happen, but by allowing ample recovery time during training, you can help avoid arriving at the start with aches and pains. Follow a hard day with one or two easy days, and a hard two weeks with an easy one (reduce mileage by 10 to 20 percent). Take a rest day at least every 10 days. And at the slightest hint of injury, reduce workload and intensity, or resort to cross-training, and seek physical therapy.
PLAN: Run your own race When the Trials pace picked up at mile nine, Brian Sell was left behind. But at mile 22, Sell passed Dan Browne and secured the third and final spot on the Olympic team. Had he gone with the early surge, however, the outcome might have been different. Fast early miles are not Sell's strength, and he knew that. Likewise, Lel knew his power was his savage final sprint. So he hung with the leaders until the finish was in sight, then he let his kick do the talking.
ACTION: Itemize your strengths Understand where you excel and where you don't by taking notes after races and analyzing past performances. Then develop a race strategy that maximizes your strengths--and stick to it.
PLAN: Finish strong Hall's and Lel's victories had something in common with the last four world records in the marathon--they all were run with a faster second half than first half. Running a negative-split race is all about energy management. The slower the early miles, the more fat you burn relative to glycogen, thus saving your primary energy source for later. Additionally, easing into a race gives your body time to process any lactic-acid buildup, thus delaying fatigue. Perhaps the biggest advantage is that you spend a smaller percentage of the race tired or in pain.
ACTION: Go negative Run the first half of your next 10-K or half or full marathon one to two percent slower than your projected goal time. (Negative splits aren't the best strategy for 5-Ks.) For a 44-minute 10-K, for example, that calculates to a first half run at a 7:11 to 7:15 pace, thus hitting the halfway mark at 22:30, followed by a 6:55 average for part two. Having to "make up" time can seem stressful to some runners, so practice negative splits during tempo runs to build confidence in the strategy. Over time, you'll be celebrating at the finish like Hall and Lel.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Healthy Kidney 10K - 5/17/08
Overall time of 46:13 and a mile pace of 7:27. This was a two second PR for me in the 10K distance (Scotland 10K in March 2008). This has been a really good running stretch for me over the first quarter/half of 2008. Again, I know these don't last forever so I am glad to ride this a far as it goes.
This was my first race since the corral system was implemented a few weeks ago. Everyone was discussing their bib color on Thursday, but I did not really know yet what the colors meant or how the corral system was set up. When I picked up my number yesterday, I had a red bib and a number of "1596." In addition, the bib had a blue sticker on it - I didn't know what it represented but I would find out later at the race.
In order to try and squeeze in a longer run today, I decided to run an easy 3 miles or so from Engineer's Gate to the start of the race - these three miles plus the race would give me about 9.2 miles plus for the day. It was getting a bit hot during my pre-run but it was a good way to loosen up my legs before the race. I've noticed in the past that I've gotten good race times when I've run 2-4 miles beforehand.
I got to the start of the race with about 10 minutes to spare and made sure to find my correct corral. I saw that there was a 0-999 corral so I figured that I needed to find the next corral, which was probably 1000-1999. Evidently, I would not need to go any further. Once I passed by the 0-999 corral, the person checking people in told me that my blue dot on my bib allowed me to start the race in the first corral. I thought to myself "oh my god", I can't believe that I am going to start a race with the elite and top athletes. I still don't know exactly what the blue dot meant, but I didn't care. It allowed me to begin with the big boys. I figured that this would probably never happen again so I might as well take advantage of it. I looked around and saw some very fast Flyers (PD, JD, JT) and thought to myself "what am I doing here?" but I was going to have fun with it.
I knew that start in the first corral would have its good and bad points. On the good side, I would be able to get out of the gate right away and be able to "ride" the quickness of the faster runners. However, I also knew that if I didn't watch myself I would get sucked into running a fast first mile and potentially tire myself out. Instead of passing people in the beginning as I've done in the past when starting in the middle of the pack, I knew that most of the first and second corral would be passing me and I needed to be disciplined enough not to go any faster. Well, the plan did not exactly go as I had hoped.
When the gun went off, I tried to stay calm and not go out too fast. I was feeling OK during the first mile. Even though I didn't feel like I was going that fast, I knew that it was probably just an illusion and that the quicker people ahead of me were causing me to go faster that I had hoped. I ended up running my fastest first mile ever - a 7:08. I got a little worried at that point that I went out too fast and that I would struggle for the rest of the race. I was able to still get a very fast time for mile 2 (7:18) but I was beginning to tire out a bit and I knew that I still had 4.2 miles to go. From that point on, it was going to be a mental race for me, rather than a physical one. I needed to convince myself to stabilize my pace and slow down a bit or else I would hit the wall and have a very hard and uncomfortable second half of the race. Although I was able to gut out good times for mile 3 and 4 (7:25 and 7:45), I was worried about the fact that my times kept on increasing and I was struggling mentally. This is where you see what you are made of. Sometimes the best races are when you are able to recover well in the middle of a race, rather than just getting a good overall time. I was able to bounce back on mile 5 (7:33) and then pick it up a little bit for the last 1.2 miles (7:31).
I was extremely happy to see that I beat my previous 10K PR from only a month or so ago (Scotland 10K) by two seconds. While the Scotland 10K was a consistent race overall where I felt great throughout and got my first 10K PR in several years, I think I was prouder of this one. I went out way too fast in the beginning (my fault) and had inconsistent mile times, but I was able to recover mid race and run a strong mental race. I could have easily gone in the other direction after the 5K and slow down considerably, but I told myself to keep going and to ride out the rough patches until it got a bit easier. Mental toughness is equally or more important than physical importance in a race.
Mile Splits:
Mile 1 - 7:08
Mile 2 - 7:18
Mile 3 - 7:25
Mile 4 - 7:45
Mile 5 - 7:33
Last 1.2 miles - 9:01 (mile pace - 7:31)
Total Time: 46:13
Avg Pace: 7:27
This was my first race since the corral system was implemented a few weeks ago. Everyone was discussing their bib color on Thursday, but I did not really know yet what the colors meant or how the corral system was set up. When I picked up my number yesterday, I had a red bib and a number of "1596." In addition, the bib had a blue sticker on it - I didn't know what it represented but I would find out later at the race.
In order to try and squeeze in a longer run today, I decided to run an easy 3 miles or so from Engineer's Gate to the start of the race - these three miles plus the race would give me about 9.2 miles plus for the day. It was getting a bit hot during my pre-run but it was a good way to loosen up my legs before the race. I've noticed in the past that I've gotten good race times when I've run 2-4 miles beforehand.
I got to the start of the race with about 10 minutes to spare and made sure to find my correct corral. I saw that there was a 0-999 corral so I figured that I needed to find the next corral, which was probably 1000-1999. Evidently, I would not need to go any further. Once I passed by the 0-999 corral, the person checking people in told me that my blue dot on my bib allowed me to start the race in the first corral. I thought to myself "oh my god", I can't believe that I am going to start a race with the elite and top athletes. I still don't know exactly what the blue dot meant, but I didn't care. It allowed me to begin with the big boys. I figured that this would probably never happen again so I might as well take advantage of it. I looked around and saw some very fast Flyers (PD, JD, JT) and thought to myself "what am I doing here?" but I was going to have fun with it.
I knew that start in the first corral would have its good and bad points. On the good side, I would be able to get out of the gate right away and be able to "ride" the quickness of the faster runners. However, I also knew that if I didn't watch myself I would get sucked into running a fast first mile and potentially tire myself out. Instead of passing people in the beginning as I've done in the past when starting in the middle of the pack, I knew that most of the first and second corral would be passing me and I needed to be disciplined enough not to go any faster. Well, the plan did not exactly go as I had hoped.
When the gun went off, I tried to stay calm and not go out too fast. I was feeling OK during the first mile. Even though I didn't feel like I was going that fast, I knew that it was probably just an illusion and that the quicker people ahead of me were causing me to go faster that I had hoped. I ended up running my fastest first mile ever - a 7:08. I got a little worried at that point that I went out too fast and that I would struggle for the rest of the race. I was able to still get a very fast time for mile 2 (7:18) but I was beginning to tire out a bit and I knew that I still had 4.2 miles to go. From that point on, it was going to be a mental race for me, rather than a physical one. I needed to convince myself to stabilize my pace and slow down a bit or else I would hit the wall and have a very hard and uncomfortable second half of the race. Although I was able to gut out good times for mile 3 and 4 (7:25 and 7:45), I was worried about the fact that my times kept on increasing and I was struggling mentally. This is where you see what you are made of. Sometimes the best races are when you are able to recover well in the middle of a race, rather than just getting a good overall time. I was able to bounce back on mile 5 (7:33) and then pick it up a little bit for the last 1.2 miles (7:31).
I was extremely happy to see that I beat my previous 10K PR from only a month or so ago (Scotland 10K) by two seconds. While the Scotland 10K was a consistent race overall where I felt great throughout and got my first 10K PR in several years, I think I was prouder of this one. I went out way too fast in the beginning (my fault) and had inconsistent mile times, but I was able to recover mid race and run a strong mental race. I could have easily gone in the other direction after the 5K and slow down considerably, but I told myself to keep going and to ride out the rough patches until it got a bit easier. Mental toughness is equally or more important than physical importance in a race.
Mile Splits:
Mile 1 - 7:08
Mile 2 - 7:18
Mile 3 - 7:25
Mile 4 - 7:45
Mile 5 - 7:33
Last 1.2 miles - 9:01 (mile pace - 7:31)
Total Time: 46:13
Avg Pace: 7:27
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Back on the Horse - for now
The month since my last race on April 13th has been spent on a mix of running, doctors appointments, surgery, recovery and now running again. No matter what situation we find ourselves in, we are always concerned about how it is going to affect our running. I guess it is a little defect in the brain that we all have.
I found out at the end of my March that my surgery was going to be scheduled for April 23rd. After a little internal coaxing, I was fine with the fact that I was not going to be able to run the Lehigh Valley Half as I had planned (there were more pressing issues at the time), but already I was thinking how my surgery would affect my running over the next few months and how it would affect, if at all, my plans of a possible marathon at the end of the year.
Prior to my surgery, there was no reason for my running to be affected at all. I wasn't on any medication and there were no pre-op restrictions I had to follow. I decided to keep up my usual routine of 20+ miles per week, including a long run, up until only a couple days before my surgery. In fact some of my best running during the past few years came during the two or three weeks leading up to my surgery, with PRs in two consecutive races and a great 15K time. I was feeling very strong and confident during this period. Keeping up with my schedule was a way of keeping me sane before the surgery and building my fitness up to a point that I wouldn't be adversely affected by a couple week layoff. The only variable was how I would feel after surgery and how long it would take me to get back to my normal running routine. The day after surgery I was pretty out of it with a very sore throat, but I felt considerably better as the days went on. My doctor told me that I didn't have any restrictions, but I wanted to be on the safe side and make sure everything was healing properly before I went back to running. I figured I was in no rush (why take an unnecessary risk if I wasn't training for anything). What would be gained by coming back too early? It was better to be safe than sorry, so I told myself even if I felt good enough to run, I was going to wait at least until I saw my doctor a week or so after my surgery and he gave me the go ahead. Luckily, he told me that my incision was healing very nicely and that I was free to start running again as long as I felt up to it. So, that evening (it was a Thursday) I ran on over to the Thursday group run for my first run in 10 days. I was going to take it slow and not push myself unless I was up to it. Luckily, I felt good throughout the run and didn't seem to feel any ill effects of the surgery or the time off. I then went for another run on Saturday, although not a "long run". I would wait until the next week for that.
It has now been three weeks since my surgery and I feel back to normal running wise. I am back to running my regular schedule and weekend long run of 10 miles, in addition to my spinning and weights day. I am signed up for the Healthy Kidney 10K this weekend, which will be my first race since the Run for One Classic. Hopefully, I'll be close to my old self.
I'm trying to keep up the running as long as possible for the time being because I will most likely have another couple week layoff coming at the end of May/beginning of June and I don't want to fall too far behind if I don't have to. I have two scans coming up during mid June in which I have to go off of my Synthroid medication for a few weeks, and one of the possible side effects is sluggishness/fatigue. Therefore, there is a possibility that I won't be up to running for a little while during that time period. This is the reason that I unfortunately had to step down from the Need for Speed Relay coming up on June 7th. I ran it last year and was looking forward to it, but at this point I have no idea how I will be feeling in the days leading up to the race, so I felt it was fair to the team to allow them to get a new member.
If I do need a layoff of a couple weeks, I'm hoping that I'll be able to bounce back as quickly as I did recently. I feel that I have a large enough mileage and fitness base that I don' think it would be too hard to ease back into my usual routine. First things first - the scans need to come back free and clear. Hopefully if that is the case, I will ease myself back into a routine and possibly think about a marathon at the end of the year (maybe).
I found out at the end of my March that my surgery was going to be scheduled for April 23rd. After a little internal coaxing, I was fine with the fact that I was not going to be able to run the Lehigh Valley Half as I had planned (there were more pressing issues at the time), but already I was thinking how my surgery would affect my running over the next few months and how it would affect, if at all, my plans of a possible marathon at the end of the year.
Prior to my surgery, there was no reason for my running to be affected at all. I wasn't on any medication and there were no pre-op restrictions I had to follow. I decided to keep up my usual routine of 20+ miles per week, including a long run, up until only a couple days before my surgery. In fact some of my best running during the past few years came during the two or three weeks leading up to my surgery, with PRs in two consecutive races and a great 15K time. I was feeling very strong and confident during this period. Keeping up with my schedule was a way of keeping me sane before the surgery and building my fitness up to a point that I wouldn't be adversely affected by a couple week layoff. The only variable was how I would feel after surgery and how long it would take me to get back to my normal running routine. The day after surgery I was pretty out of it with a very sore throat, but I felt considerably better as the days went on. My doctor told me that I didn't have any restrictions, but I wanted to be on the safe side and make sure everything was healing properly before I went back to running. I figured I was in no rush (why take an unnecessary risk if I wasn't training for anything). What would be gained by coming back too early? It was better to be safe than sorry, so I told myself even if I felt good enough to run, I was going to wait at least until I saw my doctor a week or so after my surgery and he gave me the go ahead. Luckily, he told me that my incision was healing very nicely and that I was free to start running again as long as I felt up to it. So, that evening (it was a Thursday) I ran on over to the Thursday group run for my first run in 10 days. I was going to take it slow and not push myself unless I was up to it. Luckily, I felt good throughout the run and didn't seem to feel any ill effects of the surgery or the time off. I then went for another run on Saturday, although not a "long run". I would wait until the next week for that.
It has now been three weeks since my surgery and I feel back to normal running wise. I am back to running my regular schedule and weekend long run of 10 miles, in addition to my spinning and weights day. I am signed up for the Healthy Kidney 10K this weekend, which will be my first race since the Run for One Classic. Hopefully, I'll be close to my old self.
I'm trying to keep up the running as long as possible for the time being because I will most likely have another couple week layoff coming at the end of May/beginning of June and I don't want to fall too far behind if I don't have to. I have two scans coming up during mid June in which I have to go off of my Synthroid medication for a few weeks, and one of the possible side effects is sluggishness/fatigue. Therefore, there is a possibility that I won't be up to running for a little while during that time period. This is the reason that I unfortunately had to step down from the Need for Speed Relay coming up on June 7th. I ran it last year and was looking forward to it, but at this point I have no idea how I will be feeling in the days leading up to the race, so I felt it was fair to the team to allow them to get a new member.
If I do need a layoff of a couple weeks, I'm hoping that I'll be able to bounce back as quickly as I did recently. I feel that I have a large enough mileage and fitness base that I don' think it would be too hard to ease back into my usual routine. First things first - the scans need to come back free and clear. Hopefully if that is the case, I will ease myself back into a routine and possibly think about a marathon at the end of the year (maybe).
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