Making Plans!

Race Day is fast approaching. In a little more than a week, I will be running my first marathon since July 2012. While I've been planning in my head for months, I think it may be time to get a plan down on paper (or pixels, as it were).

Enter this helpful article from Runner's World, which reiterates what I already knew about race strategy and pace planning. Plan to run the race 30-60 seconds faster than your long run pace. Test your pace on a run a few weeks out. Don't try anything new. Practice, practice, and show up early.

Admittedly, I should have been running my long runs around 9:30 per mile according to the Hansons, and my previous estimate that I should run somewhere in the 3:50 neighborhood. I never did that, not even once. I run with a faster crowd, and most of my long runs were closer to 8:30 (the long run pace for a 3:25 goal). My tempo runs we around 8:15 or a bit slower, putting me closer to a Hanson-approved 3:40 marathon goal. My speed work earlier in the training also put me close to the Hanson pace for a 3:40 goal.

To further complicate the matter (or clarify it?), Runner's World suggested I use their handy pace calculator, plugging in a recent race time to predict my marathon finish time. Well, I just happen to have run a hilly half marathon last weekend, and I will be running a hilly marathon, so let's do some plugging and predicting. I plugged in my 1:46:23 finish at last weekend's race, and the calculator predicted a 3:41:48 marathon finish.

I'm no expert, but it sounds like all signs are pointing to a 3:40 goal finish time, or around 8:24 per mile.

But wait! That sounds fast! My PR is 3:50, at my most recent race in July 2012. I felt pretty comfortable during that race, and I am arguably better trained this time around. That course is also very hilly, like the one I'll face in Raleigh. So, maybe a 3:40 goal finish isn't too far off?

Decisions, decisions...

Race Report: Urban Cow Half Marathon

I was a little nervous going into the Urban Cow Half Marathon yesterday morning. It is well into CIM training season, so this race would be a great test of my fitness. But have I trained enough? If my training is going well, I should easily PR, and potential break 1:40. But if my 7:51 average pace for the Buffalo Stampede two weeks ago is any indication, I would be hard pressed to PR...

I started the race, thinking about a 7:37 pace (to get in at 1:40). I ran the first few miles well under that, closer to 7:20. Early in the race, we took a left turn towards the Sacramento Zoo. A fellow Buffalo Chip mentioned that we were off-course, that we had turned onto the 5k course. Trusting the race organizers, I assumed he was wrong, until we rounded the last part of the loop, met back up with the rest of Wave 1, and saw a second 1 mile marker. Already, a little over a mile into the race, I knew I wouldn't PR due to the extra distance.

At first, I was pissed. I wanted the test, I thought a PR might be in the cards if my training has been as good as I think it has. But thanks to a mistake by someone else, I wouldn't get that test. This made me go faster.

After a few minutes, I realized that the race could still be a test. Usually I start to regulate my speed, after going out too fast, so that I can not bonk towards the end and slow down too much (which I tend to do). My plan became keeping up as fast as I could manage for the distance, without worrying about bonking. It would be a test of how far I could run around the 7:30 mark, or lower if I could manage. I stopped really checking my watch, or worrying about total elapsed time.

Despite the disappointment that I wouldn't end up with a comparable time or a PR, I enjoyed the race, and the challenge of a 14 or so mile tempo run. It is at least a good Sunday long run!

I came in strong, with a time of 1:44 for 13.85 miles (on my Garmin). After consulting a few Chips, most found a 4 and a half minute difference, which would have put my at a PR, and under 1:40. I was a bit disappointed that it wouldn't be official, but happy with my performance on my "test."

This morning, Capitol Road Race Management announced they had recalculated the times for Wave 1 participants based on the measured distance of 13.74. That made my time 1:39:43, a PR and under 1:40! While I would feel better about a PR achieved without calculations after the fact, I am happy to be the owner of a new PR, and happy that I achieved my goals!

Race Report: San Francisco Marathon

It was a beautiful day in San Francisco on Saturday, clear and cool, and not very windy. The impending race early on Sunday, coupled with being in a different city, made it difficult to get to bed at a time befitting our early start. 

We woke up at 3:30 to get ready for the race- a bit earlier than needed- and went down to the Embarcadero a few minutes after five to get into Corral 3. We passed the long port-a-potty line, and were glad we stayed across the street at the race hotel. We went into our corral and admired the bay in the dark morning, balloons with lights on them stretching across the water.

The first and second waves started, and we worked out way into the crowd to get ready. At 5:42, we started the San Francisco Marathon, working our way down the Embarcadero, up into the Presidio, with the sun rising as we approached the Golden Gate Bridge.

What an exciting landmark to run across! The bridge was clouded in fog, but the bright red of the enormous structure, the water below, and the shores on the Marin side were visible. It was a bit crowded, but not too bad at all. It was fun to see the faster runners doubling back toward San Francisco on the way over, morphing into mid-packers like us as we got closer to Marin. A short loop in Marin, and we headed back across a clearer, brighter bridge.

After the bridge, we continued on through the Presidio. The course thus far had been a challenge, with many steep uphills as well as some steeper downhills, We approached Golden Gate Park, and embarked on a nice tour of the park from a rare vantage point. The rolling hills, this far into the race, felt more and more challenging.

John and I had not planned initially to run together, due to our wildly different training over the past few months. He had been injured prior to running Rome, and has been doing more on the bike and at the gym since then. On the opposite end, I've trained like I've never trained before. But at the start, John said he'd keep up as long as he could. He actually did a fantastic job, staying with me and even helping me get up the hills over the first half of the course. It was great to run together, talk, and enjoy the sights with him.

Right before the mile 18 aid station, John told me that he would likely be slowing a bit, and I should keep going on my goal pace. He stopped for water at the aid station, and I waved goodbye. As I left the park, now alone for the last 8.2 miles, I continued on the pace we'd been going, anticipating the end of the rolling hills in my immediate future.

Out of the park and into the Haight, we did have some significant downhills. But, contrary to what John saw on the course elevation profile, there were uphills! Since I'd thought those were over, I felt it a bit more challenging to keep pace. I also felt my knees and hips tightening, and even started to struggle on the flats and downhills. I slowed from my goal pace for several miles, even topping 9:00 per mile for the first time since our bathroom stop in the park. Eventually, I got close to back on pace, and calculated that I'd still achieve my goal of finishing under 4:00.

I hot some more downhills after 20 miles, and picked it back up a bit. I saw Rachelle and her kids around 21 or so, and it was nice to see a friendly face. As I approached 24, my knees were screaming, but I realized that not only was I likely to beat 4:00, but a PR might be possible as well.

From mile 24 on, I really gave it everything. This was the first race that I actually passed a significant number of people in the last three miles instead of getting passed. I was hurting, but I wanted that PR! As I got to the waterfront, I sped up. It helped that through that stretch, the lead 2nd Half Marathoners started to pass me (about 15 men and one woman), giving me some added motivation. I passed Chris from the Chips shortly before AT&T Park, and was sorry to see that he was suffering from cramping.

From mile 25 on, I sprinted. I left everything out there. Mile 26 was my fastest since mile 11, and my 6th fastest of the race. I screamed past people, even causing some close calls. I had to maneuver around the walking wounded, and several times had to warn people to watch out. In the finishing chute, I nearly got clotheslined and had to get around an idiot who decided to cut me off to high-five spectators, and I nearly slammed into two guys posing for a finish photo before actually crossing the mat! I couldn't believe it.

What I really couldn't believe was that not only did I break 4:00, not only did I PR, but I almost broke 3:50! I came in at 3:50:25, a PR by over six minutes! The PR, on such a significant, meaningful, and challenging course, means so much. Suffice it to say that I really needed this victory, and I am so elated that I achieved everything I wanted to during this race.

John finished in a PR also, in 4:10:29. I unfortunately had marathon brain, went to somewhere other than where we said we'd meet, and didn't see him until I got back to the hotel.

We celebrated our finish with beer and burgers at Rogue Public House in North Beach, overlooking Washington Square Park.

Race Report: Zoo Zoom

When I started training for my first marathon, I pretty much threw shorter distance races out the window. Sure, I ran a 5k or two over the past year and a half, but I really focused on the half and full marathon distances. That strategy left me with a pretty old, and pretty dismal, 10k PR from two years ago. On Sunday, I corrected that.

I signed up for the Zoo Zoom 10k a while back, knowing that it would be an easy race about a month after the Rome marathon, and before running a short race on a Sunday would derail my long run plans. I didn't really train for it, but figured that I would PR if I showed up, since my last 10k was the same race in 2010. The good news for me is that I was right!

My old 10k PR, which earned me third place in my age group, was 49:33, or a sad 7:58 per mile. My half marathon PR is faster than that pace now! I did 7:20 per mile overall in the Valentine 4 Miler, so I figured the 7:30 to 7:45 range would be doable. My bottom line, after a PR, was to break 48:00.

I started out too fast as usual, doing my first mile in 7:23. I followed that up with 7:33, 7:43, then hovered in the mid-7:40s for the remainder. I finished strong in 47:42, at 7:42 per mile average. Apparently the field at this race has improved, because this finish only earned my 7th in my division (19-29 for this event), which netted me no hardware.

All told, I'm glad I have a respectable 10k PR, and hope to keep improving. I'm getting more serious about marathon training this time around, so that should help me improve in all distances.

Photo credit: John Blue, Sacramento Running News

End of 2011

It is the end of the year, so it is time to look back briefly before moving forward. This year, I accomplished a lot. Here are a few things I'm happy about:

I ran two marathons in under 4 hours.
I ran over 1000 miles, which was my goal.
I ran my first trail race, and placed first in my age group.
I achieved a somewhat respectable PR in the 5k.

There are also a few things I wish I'd done (but didn't):

Set a decent PR in the 10k (would have required running one)
Match my PR in the half marathon (1:43)
Break 1:40 in the half marathon

I think I will have my work set out for me later this weekend setting goals for 2012. I can already think of a few.

Here are my workouts for the last week of 2011:

Monday: 5 from Sutter's Landing, plus cross training
Tuesday: 6 with Buffalo Chips (warm up, 3x mile at 1/2 marathon pace, cool)
Wednesday: 20 minute elliptical and abs
Thursday: 4 on the Parkway from Howe
Friday: 3 easy on Stonegate, after cross training and abs
Saturday: Off

Sunday: doesn't count- it is in 2012!

Miles this week: 18
Miles in 2011: 1042

Race Report: CIM (or, another one bites the dust)

What can I say about the 2011 California International Marathon, my third attempt at the distance? "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." No, that has been used before. How about: "I left it all on the field"? Nope, not that one either. Let us try this one (from my not-so-favorite, Woody Allen): "Eighty percent of success is showing up." Yep, that is a good start.

As I mentioned in my last post, I woke up Saturday with a cold. Or the beginnings of a cold. My throat was tight, but I didn't yet have a fever, headache, cough, etc. So it would still be fine if I ran the marathon, right? On Sunday morning, I was not so sure. I didn't sleep very well, and was near delirium when I got up at 3:30AM. I couldn't decide what to eat, I felt awful, I was tired. But I went anyway. On the bus to the start in Folsom, I wasn't sure how much longer I could stay awake. When we finally arrived at the start, it was so cold I thought I might freeze.

But at 6:55 or so, I took off my jacket, packed it in my gear check bag, and lined up at the start. I felt better, at least a little bit. And ready to run.

The first half went pretty well. I got through Folsom, the outskirts, and Fair Oaks just fine. I kept a stead 8:35-8:50 or so pace, well within my goal of 8:45 overall (for a 3:50 finish). I felt good. At the hour mark, I forgot to take my Day Quill, but I remembered about twenty minutes later. I kept taking my Gu and drinking water about when I should.

My average time for the first 5.9 miles was a too-fast 8:25 per mile, well under my goal pace. I figured this was okay, due to the downhill of the first few miles. I got to the halfway point at 1:53, for 8:37 average to that point, which was well within my goal of finishing in 3:50.

Things went downhill from there, pun intended. By the 20 mile mark, I was at 2:58:14, or 8:54 average pace. At that point, it was still possible to come in within a good range of my second goal, around 3:55.

Well, the last 10k was not my friend, to say the least. I really started to feel the effects of my cold, and just couldn't get back to my goal speed of 8:45, or even the slow end of my speed range, 9:00 per mile. I was checking my watch, seeing my speed slowing, and trying to pull it back in, but I just couldn't seem to maintain. At the H Street Bridge, the 3:55 group came and went, though I did stay with them for a mile or so. I was fine with that. I don't need to PR every race, especially with a cold.

John made a good assessment of my running issues yesterday after the race. I am a bit of a quitter. I can go out a train and get a good time in a race, but usually just when conditions are right. At CIM last year for example, I felt sick, and I just couldn't mentally come to terms with the ten miles I had left to run, so I walked them. I probably could have physically run, but mentally I gave up. Yesterday, this was not the case. I didn't quit, for once.

I haven't looked at my Garmin results, but I know that I did the last half much slower than the first, and I ran the last 10k well below my goal. But I kept running, and I made sure that I kept enough speed up that the 4:00 pace group wouldn't pass me (or that I could hang on to them if they caught me). Once I saw the park, I picked it up, and that really made the difference. I don't know how much faster I ran in that last half mile or so, but I know that it helped me come in twenty seconds under the four hour mark. And that 20 seconds is everything!

The bottom line is, I could have done better, had I not been sick. I actually was pretty well prepared. But I was sick, so I didn't get a PR. But I also didn't quit, which helped me at least finish under four hours. I call that a victory.

For the books, here are my results:
Chip time: 3:59:40
Average Speed: 9:09/mile

Race Report: Women's Fitness festival 5k (New 5k PR: 22:40!)

This morning I ran the Kaiser Permanente Women's Fitness Festival 5k, and it went very well. I started out with low expectations, because I haven't been training much, and I especially haven't been doing speed work. I wanted to beat my time from last year- basically get under 24 minutes. Ideally, I wanted under 23, but figured that wouldn't happen.

I started out and felt fine at around a 7:30 pace. I kept it up, and sped up considerably at Capitol park about half a mile from the finish. A nice woman next to me kept telling me not to let me pass her. It helped keeep me from slowing down- my stomach was churning big time, but I really wanted to finish fast.

I saw the clock, and it was around 22:30. I sprinted in, and thought I might throw up at the finish. I knew I got under 23, so I was happy.

A while later, after getting breakfast and looking for friends, I heard them announce that results were posted on the side of the merchandise tent. I went over, and saw that I finished third in my age group!

Here are the results:
22:40.1 chip time
7:19 per mile
47th Overall
3rd in F 25-29

Otherwise known as my new PR.

And I got this:

Tune Up: Davis Stampede

Apparently, jet lag plus wind and heat plus half marathon doesn't equate to PR in a half marathon. But, I did get my second best time, even if I did run the last five miles significantly slower than the first eight. I did as well as I could, and I was just tired!

According to my Garmin, I came in at 1:46:26, which is about 3 minutes slower than my best, and 3 minutes faster than my second-best.

Here is my Garmin summary:

Urban Cow Half Marthon!

Our Sunday long run this morning was assessment number two- the Urban Cow Half Marathon. After we did our initial assessment, the coaches gave us expected finish times and paces for all race distances. Mine was 1:46 for a half marathon, about 8:10 per mile. That would be a five minute PR for me, but I thought I could do a bit better. I've been training faster than my pace sheet they gave me, and I wanted to go for 1:45. So I decided that I would try to beat or at least keep a 8 minute per mile pace.

I set my Garmin "virtual partner" for the 8 minute pace, so I could check how far ahead/behind I was. The Garmin is fantastic. I set two of the training screen to show me the current pace, time elapsed, distance, average pace, last lap time, and lap pace. Lots of useful information to keep me on track!

I started out a but in front of the 1:45 pace group. I did the first two miles around 7:50, and worried that I was going a bit too fast. But I felt great, so I kept going. I sped up a bit for the next two miles, because the 1:45 pace group was next to me. They were going about a minute ahead of the speed they should have been going, and it bugged me, so I sped up. I did 7:40 to 7:45 for the next three miles, and still felt great. Gu around mile 4, and water at the aid stations at mile 2 and 4.

Miles 6 and 7 I kept about a 7:50, then slowed a bit for the next two miles, to about 7:56. Mile 10 was a slow one, and the only one over 8:00- we ran this mile on the levee, and there was a headwind. I had a Gu around this time, and Cytomax at the remaining aid stations (every even mile).

Around mile 11 I started to feel tired, especially in the legs. But I didn't let it get to me because I was doing so well. I have never felt better during a half marathon- or any other distance for that matter. The training is really paying off. I didn't feel really tired until well into the last two miles, and by then I had enough left in the tank to speed up still.

I think without the Garmin I would have slowed down for the last two miles. I was tired, and it is really easy to slow down without noticing. I did a few times, but I checked the Garmin frequently to make sure I was on pace. The last three miles I kept between 7:55 and 7:58, and I really sped up at the half mile from finish sign. My pace for the final segment (0.1) was under 7:00 per mile.

The best part of the race- aside from how great I felt- was seeing John at the finish! It was really nice to have him there. I'm always excited at the end of a race, but it isn't as fun without someone to share it with.

Here is my Garmin summary of the race:


By the way, my time was 1:43:13. This is a PR of over 8 minutes. My overall pace was 7:51 minutes per mile.

My 10k time was 48:13, a PR of 1 minute and 20 seconds. my 10 mile time was 1:18:23, a PR of 5 minutes and 20 seconds. My 5k time was probably a PR also, but the Garmin didn't make a datapoint at 3.1 miles.