2011 First Light Half Marathon Race Report–FAIL

“The middle is part of the race” – running legend Jim Coll

As I have mentioned a couple of time, the volume portion of my running plan is over. I have switched to the intensity phase. I had a solid tempo run on Thursday – 6 @ 6:31 pace. That was strong for me. It was a hard effort but not a race effort. My heart rate for this tempo run averaged 174 BPM. For reference, my heart rate at the Steam Whistle 12 (7.45 miles) the prior weekend averaged 176. In addition, at the Ole Man River Half my heart rate also averaged 176 BPM.

So, at the First Light I can only ascertain that I did not want to run fast. My heart rate averaged 170. Not only that but I lost this race in the middle. I had been running hard and losing ground and then just gave it up at about 8. If you look at the chart below I was actually within 9 seconds of my PR race at the Ole Man River at mile 8. However, I felt like I was over extended and fading. This is where I gave up the race.

Chart of running paces at Ole Man River and First Light Halfs.

As you can see, at mile 8 I gave it up.  I though the race was over. 

I just wanted to finish.  I allowed my heart rate to drop. 

I turned this RACE into a training run – FAIL.

 
 

Chart of heart rates at Ole Man River and First Light Halfs.

My heart rate does not indicate that I should have felt like

I was running as hard as I thought I was.  The wind did slow the pace,

however, I was simply not running hard enough – FAIL.

I thought that the PR was out the window and I hurting. I had been running into the wind and this had taken a toll. At this point I was caught by my friend Neil. He had started much slower than I.  He had also maintained his paces. After a few miles I regained my composure but was still not running to my abilities. Miles 8, 9 and 10 each hovered around 7 minute miles.

I was able to pick it up a little bit at the end but the PR streak is over. I will have to tabulate how long it lasted but it was at least a half dozen 5k’s, 2 12k’s, 7 half marathons and various other races.

As a proviso, I think I could have run this race smarter and chipped away at my half PR by a few seconds, maybe. However, I really wanted to knock a big chunk off the PR – I wanted a 1:26:20. Oh well, there will be other races. My eye is still on the prize – sub-3 marathon at Mardi Gras. I will have to have a perfect race and the run calculators are still snubbing their noses at me.

Oh yeah, this race is not chip times.  My offical time was 1:30:00 - my Garmin indicated a bit quicker.  It is funny, that would have been a solid race last year but this year it is 10 seconds per mile slower - that is HUGE.

Hobble then Gobble in July?

Having not run much in the last week I decide to get an early morning run. I headed out the door just before 6AM on Friday morning. It was muggy to say the least – I think I was the dew point. My legs felt good after almost a week of rest – I did a 5 mile brick in the middle of that century plus bike ride last weekend and no running since then.

My legs felt so good that I was pushing the pace and I decided to do a rare tempo run. I ran out towards Clyde Station and got the blood flowing quickly – no warm up – just a quick run. The first mile clicked off in 7:19 and I pushed a little harder. This was not like a 5k race or anything but just a hard tempo run. I hit the 2 ½ mile turn around and held steady. This was a HARD effort. Nothing was easy about it but it felt good. No aches and pains – just a solid effort. I struggled just a little to keep the intensity high in the last mile or so – but it was maintainable – I think I could have run a mile or two more at this pace – my splits:

1. 7:19
2. 6:58
3. 7:05
4. 6:59
5. 7:05

This is about a minute off of my 5k pace. This was the same pace as the run in the Sunfish last weekend. Preparing for the weekend I rested the remainder of the day (bowling at lunch).

I met Jim at the lake at 6AM on Saturday. We were planning a bit longer bike and run leg after the swim. We jumped in the lake and it took me about 10 minutes to fall into my rhythm. The swim was not hard; however, it just was not as easy as it has been the last few weekends. I think that I might still be a little ‘under recovered’ … not sure about that phrase but I think you get the drift.

I did the approximate 2800 yards in about 55 minutes – I think I was a few minutes faster 2 weeks ago. I may have hit the corners of the lake a little better on this day and covered a little more distance – it is hard to tell in the water when you are using ‘soft’ landmarks. Anyway, with the swim out of the way we prepared our bikes for the day. John, the legend, was waiting for us and he would do the bike leg with us. John has 4 ironman’s (from all over the world) under his belt and his advice and camaraderie is always welcome.

We had decided to try and tackle as many hills as we could find. I have been reviewing the IM Louisville course for the last week and I am trying to determine just how hilly the bike course is. I found a couple sites that reference Garmin’s motion based website to determine the elevation. It would appear that IMKY is between 7500 – 8400 feet of climbing – I guess those rolling hills add up. I would be taking my gps with us to see just how Southern Mississippi’s hills will match up. We went west and did out usual loops and then headed towards Sumrall. After Sumrall John took us on the 5 counties loop and then we started to head back. This ride, even though hilly, was so much easier than the last couple of weeks – mainly due to the temperature only being in the high 80’s – 89 for the high. Two weeks ago it was 100+ and all the humidity you could ask for – this was a huge difference. I think we all enjoyed the ride and made it back to the lake. John offered to drop water along the course and wished Jim and I well for our run. The plan was for an easy 10 miles – as easy as you can get after swimming and riding hills for 78 miles.

Jim and I would do the Hobble then Gobble thanksgiving race loop x 2. We headed out and across the spillway. This run would be easy. I was going to do a ‘Galloway’ and was planning on walking a minute at every mile marker. I have never done a run like this – never – not in races or training. The first mile came up quick at about 8:30. I took my 1 minute walk and grabbed a cold (frozen) water bottle – John had left them out on the course for us. The minute ticked by slowly and I really wanted to get moving again – I was tempted to jump the gun – but I waited / walked it out.

As the run wore on it got much harder. I kept to my guns and only walked 1 minute at every mile – however – those miles were coming up slower. After 8 miles it got real hard. The 8:30’s had jumped to 9:30’s and by the time mile 10 rolled around they were in the 10:30’s. All in all I got 11 miles at a 9:39 minute per mile pace. I can live with that but I know that the pace is not sustainable. With another 15 miles to go I can see those walks getting much longer and that pace climbing higher and higher.

I jumped in the lake with an ice cold beer and just relaxed for a few minutes. Jim and I chewed the fat about what worked and what didn’t – but mainly about how much better the day went without the intense heat from the past few weeks.

Sunday was a nice and easy recovery group ride. I never turn back at Sumrall – I mean never – but I took my own advice and just let this be an easy 30 miles. Nothing to gain by pushing it – average heart rate for this Sunday ride was only 113 BPM and the max for the ride was 138 – that is so low for me – like zone 1 recovery low – I never ride done there.

LT run and swimming lessons

I did an easy 30 minutes on the exercise bike yesterday at lunch and then 30 minutes of back strength training. After I got home from work I attempted to ride the rollers again. My goal is to be able to ride them for 30 minutes with clip pedals by the end of the month - 13resolutions.

Today was a LT run on the treadmill. I warmed up for 0.5 miles and then increased the pace. I did not want my heart rate to go above 175 beats per minute. This is at the upper end of my aerobic zone. It is hard to maintain. I started at about 7:03 minutes / mile and increased every 0.5 mile or so by 2 tenths of a MPH. My heart rate hit 175 beats per minute at around 6:30 minutes / mile. I did not want to but I had to back off the pace for the last mile to maintain my heart rate below 175 beats. The results are as follows:

WU 0.5 miles 4:21- 126 HR AVE
1.0 mile - 6:46 - 158 HR AVE
2.0 mile - 6:31 - 170 HR AVE
3.0 mile - 6:50 - 173 HR AVE
CD 0.5 miles 4:14- 161 HR AVE

The total was 4 miles in 28:44 for a combined pace of 7:11 minute / mile.

I have my furst swimming lesson in about half an hour!

Back to the routine.

First week back after the holidays is in the books. Tuesday there was a slip on the diet but the training has been in check and followed pretty close. Except there has been no swimming. The pool is still closed for the drain modification. I was also supposed to do a LT time trial run on Wednesday but I was under the weather. Instead I ran the football stadium steps albeit much slower than last year. Today I got in a five mile run.

I have a long run and a long ride (4.5 hours) planned for the weekend. I also hope to get out to a lake for an OWS in the wetsuit.

For the good ol' American life -- for the money, for the glory, and for the fun. Mostly for the money.

I worked a short day on Friday. I has some pressing things that needed to be attended to and, in addition, I just was in need of some time away from the office. I never got any exercise in even though I had the time.

I felt I was spinning my wheels. I had a lot to do but was not sure of the best way to get it done. I am trying to prioritize the things that are important to me. I had a job that was all about responsibility and accountability at one time. It was hard and people always looked to you for the right answers. Decisions were a part of the job. I never had any problem making decisions at work. It was by the book - very little grey area (unless you really looked. And you never had to look - that was also part of the job).

At home it was different; it was personal. Decisions are harder when they are full of grey and have a seemingly permanent impact. but I digress, the reason that I brought up work was the lessons that I learned. In priorities there are two attributes to consider - urgency and importance. Sometimes they seem like they are the same but there not.

urgency - the state of being urgent; an earnest and insistent necessity

importance - Strongly affecting the course of events or the nature of things; significant

"What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important." - Eisenhower

Only if it meets both of those criteria then it has to be done now. However, what one person thinks is important (The water in the break room is getting low) and someone else thinks is urgent (There is a huge sale at the dirty-mart that only lasts to 3PM we have to go now - or virtually any phone call I get at work) may not be either to you. (Not good examples I know, sorry.)

Anyway, I have been trying to prioritize my objectives for the coming year. Going over these I first had to look at importance and rank everything. Then I had to look at what steps were necessary to achieve these goals. And finally look at what was important and was also urgent and needed immediate attention. These objectives were taken care of today.

These are grown up ways of looking at things and the decisions can be hard and not immediately gratifying. Being a grown up is tough work sometimes.

I slept late on Saturday and really did not know exactly what kind of run I wanted to do - the day off of exercise did my body good so I decided to run a hard 10 miles. I had wanted to do 12.9+ (or 13) miles but I was not sure if I would be successful considering the pace that I was planning.

I took the first mile out at a medium effort at my comfort level (a little less than 7:45 pace) then picked up the pace to LT. I cruised the next mile and felt pretty good. Not Green-Goblin-god-like good but doing okay. (By the way, I love the Green-Goblin-god-like feeling!) That second mile was at 7:17. This mile included some acceleration and I knew more speed was to be had if I wanted it. My slowest mile was the third mile simply because I saw a few comrades and stopped to speak with them for a minute or so (8:42 pace). The next 8 miles were all less than 7:15 with the fastest mile clocking in at 7:01.

The total time of the run was 1:14:09 (74 minutes and 9 seconds for a 7:24 minute / miles pace). If I deduct 3 minutes for the warm up and talking I get a much closer to my goal pace. 1:11:00 equals 7:06 minute miles.

To meet my fantasy goal for the 1/2 marathon all of the miles need to be 6:56. Sub seven minute miles for 13.1 miles is such 'a long way to go with a short time to get there'.

As a side note - Big Lots is out of tuna pouches...

Christmas in October

Monday I decided to run into work and follow the good vibes from Sunday. (Jodie had taken a supply of clothes to her lab to help facilitate this.) Why not another fast paced run near LT. I put on my headphones and headed out the door. I did the 6 miles in a not near record pace (43:3x - record is about 42:0x - a pretty big difference) but acceptable considering the lack of recent purposeful training. I have been maintaining fitness but not actively improving.

At lunch, still getting back to the plan, I hit the treadmill for hard forced intervals. I had planned on a 1 mile warm up followed by 3 miles of 1/4 mile intervals @ 6 min / mile pace (1/4 REST @ 8 min / mile pace) and then a 1 mile cool down.

I ended up doing only 3/4 mile warm up and no cool down. The intervals went fine. I can run these faster but not willing to push the pace at this point in the training. The Gulf Coast 1/2 mary that I am now officially signed up for is just 6 weeks away. That will give 5 week of concentrated training. I have not really picked a plan yet (I have been looking at the end of a challenging full mary plan) but I know the routine. I hope to do well in this 1/2 mary because I will use the pace to develop the training plans for the rest of the year.

I rode the bike into work this morning. With all of the travel and late nights at work, etc. I have not ridden the bike much. I also push the bike too hard in the commute - these should be easy miles but they are not. From house to campus, stowing the bike and getting clothes and making my way to the locker room in just under 30 minutes. The bike is still the fastest way to work and considering the construction around town that now includes taking a shower.

Tuesdays are the 'Dot Race' and as always they are exciting. Vic has been on a roll and continues to drop big blocks of time for his handicap. He started just a few weeks ago with a 8:30 minute mile and today clocked a 6:55. Huge gains in time. Chad has come down to a 6:30 minute mile and has plateaued a bit - he has been nursing a strained quad. I was able to better pace myself this week and watched the quarter mile markers and was able to keep my heart rate under control. Challenging but not out of control I clicked off 1:30 1/4 mile splits and was then able to push it to a 1:24 for the final leg of the mile. I passed Chad in this segment but Vic was too fast today. With the new handicaps next week Vic will have to continue to put up big numbers.

I decided to run a bit further and hooked up with Ryan. We ran about 3 more miles in and around campus at 8 min / mile pace. Total running miles today was 6.

Pent up and full of energy I surged repeatedly on the bike commute home. I would slow down for Jodie but we have always agreed to not race home. To better expend this tension I rode a good portion of the ride standing on the cranks in the largest gear.

Still wound up I decided to drop the backpack off and do a early evening time trial. I was not sure if I was going to do the 11.85 mile (home to Epley) or the 20 mile (home to Sumrall) time trial out and backs. My heart rate monitor was not registering and I probably pushed the pace a little hard so I decided to do the shorter of the two. Funny enough I finished in exactly the same time as my PR for this course (achieved on 07/31/08). 32:10 @ 22.10 MPH - however, I have not been riding much the past few weeks and this ride has brought on the 'Santa Claus Syndrome'.

Mind and body better I called it a night.

Man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated. - Ernest Hemingway

Being out of the swing the last few weeks I was not sure where my baseline was. I decided to do a moderate LT run just to ascertain my current fitness. I decided to do a LT run for between 8 and 10 miles. I started out at a slow pace for the first mile and then pushed it up to about LT - 6 BPM. This second mile was tough. My legs were aching and I had a lot of discomfort. I decide to drop back down to a slow pace for a mile and gather my thoughts. This was an easy mile but I was surprised at just how slow it was. Once the easy mile was complete I pushed back up to the prior harder level. This mile went a little better but still not firing on all cylinders. I dropped back down again a did another slow mile. I had conceded and was just going to alternate between easy and hard for the duration of the run.

I picked the pace up again and this time it clicked. I felt strong like I should. I ran the last five miles at this exertion level and even picked it up a little at the end. It was a great feeling of satisfaction to persevere and be redeemed.