Sunday, July 31, 2011

2011 Show Me State Games 10K

I ran my long run (22 miles) on Friday and an easy 10 miles on Saturday.  Ran with Lisa, the race director of the SMSG 5K and 10K so got to thinking since I ran my long run on Friday maybe I could run the 10K on Sunday.  I went out to Rock Bridge to run a few miles on the trail at 6 am and if that felt okay, I planned to go run the 10K at 8 am.  I ran 4.5 easy miles on the trail  with Dan S. and Karen which felt okay other than it was getting pretty warm.

There was a line to sign up when I got there but went pretty quickly since they were having us fill out the forms while standing in line.  I ran a mile to warm up but not sure that was too necessary considering it was nearly 80F.   This year the 5 and 10K had different start and finish lines and different courses.  The 10K started about 5 min after the 5K.  There was no getting lost since there was only 1 turn on this out and back course.

I had already run 63 miles for the week at the start line and it was hot.  Legs actually felt okay, but planned to keep the pace easier than usual for a 10K due to the heat.  A few guys started out faster and I passed 3 of them before the first mile and then was in 2nd place.  The guy in 1st had a big lead.  I had a 6:32 split at the first mile and 6:38 in the second mile.  The 3rd mile slowed down a little to 7:02 and was really looking forward to a drink at the turn around.  I stopped to drink my cup of water and then could see a couple guys were pretty close since they were almost at the turnaround.

I headed back and didn't look behind me.  The next mile up a hill was tough and slowed down to 7:29 which included my brief stop at the water.  At one point I thought I heard a guy breathing behind me but no one passed me and then didn't hear anyone.  Once I got over the hill, I picked up the pace a little and ran mile 5 in 7:01.  I resisted the temptation to look behind and attempted to keep my pace.  The last mile went up a bit and I turned the corner at about 5.9 to head to the finish.  I noticed a runner probably within a minute behind but was pretty sure he would not catch me.  Ran the 6th mile in 7:16 and the last 0.2 mile in 7:05.  Finished 43:14 with a 7:00 average.  The 17 year old winner was just under 39 minutes.  I placed second overall and 1st in my age group 40 - 44.

Enjoyed seeing and talking to several runners before and after.  This was a fun race and seemed to go off smoothly with the 2 different distances.  Looked like a good turn out for a hot day too.  It was 87 by the time I left the award ceremony.  I had wiped off with a towel after and then broke out in a sweat all over again standing in the shade.  My shorts were completely soaked today.  The out and back course was the same as the Runner's Choice that I run in January and has always been a tough course for me and the heat added to the challenge.  I have not taken a day off running in 20 days but felt like the heat was more of a factor than any fatigue.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Race for Recovery

This race was to benefit the tornado victims in Joplin and looked like had a great turnout and was one of the best organized local races I have seen. A bit hot to run the usual 10K pace. Ran with or close to Angie Turner most all the way. I was right with her about the first 4 mi. When we got to Forum & Southampton, we totally missed the turn on the right side since we were running on the left. Not sure there was a person there but no doubt there was a sign, but neither of us noticed it. Once we got down to Bethel, I am thinking we should have turned by now. Then we noticed a person coming at us the opposite direction so we ran the last part of the course in reverse. It ended up being 6.87 miles since we ran a section of Southampton Dr twice that we shouldn't have run at all. I slowed quite a bit once I hit 6 mi and Angie ended up finishing a little over a minute ahead. I am not sure what place we were in before we made a wrong turn. Could have been in the lead or maybe someone was just way ahead of us. Told the finish line timer we had run long, but he said that was okay so I guess I wasn't DQ'd. Overall time was 45:27, 6:37 pace.  Not sure how I placed since left and ran with Dan at Rock Bridge.

Update:  Placed 12 out of 130.  Would have placed 4th and 2nd male overall if we had not made a wrong turn.

Monday, July 11, 2011

2011 "Psycho Psummer" Run Toto Run 50K

I was pretty confident I could complete this 50K even though I have only been running around 40 miles per week and 4 days of running.  When I started again in March with a training plan, I hoped to increase my mileage further at this point, but I lost motivation after running one 67 mile week and my plan fell apart.  I decided to refocus on weight lifting to strengthen my upper body and core and go ahead and run this 50K with less mileage and possibly try to increase for my next marathon.

I drove to Kansas City the morning of the race, leaving at 4:45 am and arriving around 7 am.  I picked up my packet which included a shirt, mug, and a Trail Nerds sticker.  I brought a small cooler for my 3 bottles and had filled them with Succeed and ice.  Each was stocked with a sweet and salty bar and a Accel Gel.  The plan was to start with one and then pick up one each loop.  In between, I would refill at aid stations since they were serving Succeed.  Definitely better than that Heed crap.   I have run the February version of this race 3 times, and the summer version is a different course.

The race started at 8 am.  I wasn't sure which direction we were heading, but I was in front.  My plan was to keep the pace under control and not start too fast.  We headed out on the same trail as the February race.  The 20 milers were also running at the same time and the 10 milers would start an hour later.  I started off at a conservative feeling pace.  The temp was already above 70 and quite humid.  Several people passed me and I would pass back.  The first 3 miles had several shoe sucking mud areas that had been trampled by horses.  The course deviated at around 3 miles and then was different than the way we ran in February.  I ate my bar at about 45 minutes.  The trail was very runnable for awhile. I felt like I was holding back and took easy on the hills.  I walked a lot of the hills since they were too steep to run.  Even some of the down hills I took it easy as they were quite rocky and I wasn't feeling too sure of myself.  I stopped only at the aid station at about 5.3 miles to refill with more Succeed.  I had the last bar at about 1 hr 30 min.  The last 2 miles were cruel with hills and more mud, but I finished the first loop (10.4 miles) in 1:44:21.  I did not want to finish it any faster than 1:40 so met my goal.  I was happy to see the loop was longer than the one we ran in February.  I don't know why I was happy about this considering the difficulty, but I guess I like to get my money's worth.

I stopped at my drop bag and drank half of my 32 oz Powerade Zero, and picked up a new bottle.  The ice cubes had stayed frozen, but the temps were rising quickly.  I wasn't dehydrated yet since I actually had to pee at the start of the 2nd loop.  Also, took a Succeed cap about every hour.  As the temps went up, my pace slowed down.  One guy that I passed had his shoe sucked off in one of the muddy sections and had to stop to get it back on.  At about the middle of the loop, I suddenly realize I am flying through the air and not sure what happened.  My left toe kind of hurt so I guess I must have hit it on something.  I fell down and kind of bounced up off my right knee and was back running.  I was a little muddier, but no blood and nothing hurt. I refilled with Succeed again at the aid station (probably about 16 miles) and Sophia talked me into taking a piece of watermelon before taking off.  I think passed three 50K guys the second loop and was passed by 2.  I also passed quite a few 10 milers so was good to see some people.  There was a long section in a grassy field that was flat, but I had to stop and walk part of it since it was hard to breathe in the hot sun and felt like my heart rate was up.  The last mile of the second loop I was beginning to feel the heat starting to get to me even more.  My head was pretty clear for the first 2 loops, but by the end of the 2nd loop, things were starting to get fuzzy and I had to concentrate on moving forward.  I finished the second loop in 2:05:43.  I didn't have a goal this loop other than to keep moving.

Drank the rest of the Powerade and picked up a new bottle.  Took off with another runner beside me for the final loop and someone told us we were 7 and 8th overall.  He was running stronger and ran ahead and said he may see me later.  Next thing I know, the first and second place women are passing me like I am standing still.  I keep moving but it gets harder and harder to run.  Legs actually feel pretty good but motivation to run is not great unless completely flat or down hill.  However, if it was flat too long, I would have to stop and walk since it felt hard to breathe if I ran too long.  I stopped again at my favorite aid station and had watermelon and they refilled my Succeed.  After running through the longer grassy area in the sun and up the hill, I caught up to the guy that started this loop with me and he was walking with about 3 miles to go.  I walked with him briefly and he said he would likely walk to the end.  I told him I thought I could still run a little and wished him well and took off.  My brain felt a bit fuzzy this last loop so don't remember things too clearly.  I do remember thinking there is no way I want to consider doing this again and how could I have ever run any further than a 50K as crappy as I was feeling.  I was really looking forward to getting to the sign with 1.5 miles to go and the final hills in this loop were extremely difficult to climb.  Some guy flew past me in the last half mile, but didn't care since he was obviously having a much better day than me to finish so strong.

I finish the 3rd loop in 2:31:07 and was surprised it wasn't worse.  Overall time is 6:21:11 and placed 13 out of 59 overall. The temp had gotten up to 90 degrees and I must have been more dehydrated than I realized.  I can't push myself when I get dehydrated.  If I had been wearing a HR monitor, I am sure my HR would have been high since it felt high.  I didn't want anything they had at the end to eat or drink other than a cup of water.  I found a faucet to wash off my muddy shoes and legs.  It took me about 5 minutes to untie one of my shoes.  I had no desire to stick around in the heat so got in the car and left.  About 15 minutes down the road, I am getting cooled off and am suddenly very hungry and thirsty.  I stopped at the first place I could find - Wendy's for a burger, fries, and lemonade.  By the time I got home I felt pretty good but took awhile to get to rehydrate. 

Looking back on this 2 days later, I think the main issue for me was heat, not drinking enough, and lack of training.  I drank over 150 ounces of fluid over the 31 miles, but it was not enough for the heat.  After 10 am, I didn't pee again until 6 pm after I got home.  My legs were really not that beat up since the heat slowed me down and I ran about 5 miles on the trail one day after the race.

My Pictures

Results

Course Map & Elevation




Type Distance Time
1 Interval 1 mi 9:49.35
2 Interval 1 mi 9:21
3 Interval 1 mi 9:06
4 Interval 1 mi 9:04
5 Interval 1 mi 9:55.25
6 Interval 1 mi 9:59.25
7 Interval 1 mi 11:00.25
8 Interval 1 mi 10:00
9 Interval 1 mi 10:14
10 Interval 1 mi 11:50
11 Interval 1 mi 11:23
12 Interval 1 mi 11:24
13 Interval 1 mi 11:40
14 Interval 1 mi 10:00
15 Interval 1 mi 11:24
16 Interval 1 mi 11:30
17 Interval 1 mi 12:16
18 Interval 1 mi 12:50
19 Interval 1 mi 12:26
20 Interval 1 mi 12:15
21 Interval 1 mi 15:33
22 Interval 1 mi 14:01
23 Interval 1 mi 13:44
24 Interval 1 mi 14:26
25 Interval 1 mi 13:31
26 Interval 1 mi 14:52
27 Interval 1 mi 15:02
28 Interval 1 mi 15:22
29 Interval 1 mi 13:12
30 Interval 1 mi 14:54
31 Interval 1 mi 15:59
32 Interval 0.25 mi 3:07.68

6:21:11.53 overall 12:12 pace

Monday, July 04, 2011

2011 Parley P. Pratt 4 Mile Run

It has been 15 weeks since I started running again after taking 5 weeks off.  With 3 weeks training for every 1 week off, I figured a short race at 15 weeks would be a good test even though I have already ran several 5Ks that were good times for me.  Running has been kind of blah recently and haven't managed to run more than 40 miles most weeks. I've started regularly lifting weights and doing core work which I may have overdone a bit since on Wednesday I started to have some lower back pain at work after lifting a box.  By this morning, I felt like my back was at 100% so just in time to run a race.

This is the 7th consecutive year I have run the Parley Pratt 4 mile.  Temps were around 70F but humidity was 94% so a humid day.  I ran a 2.5 mi warmup with Hugh and we only had a few minutes more of the pre-race ceremonies before we started.  I lined up in the front and was off to what felt like a fast start.  I was in 8th place until just after the first half mile, moved up to 5th place. There was a young kid ahead of me in Vibrams and long pants that I ran behind until the 2 miler.  I was ready to pass him but there wasn't enough time before the turn around and he sped up when I was about to make a move.  He stopped for water so that made it easy.  My first mile split was 6:07, and second mile was 6:04.

On the way back, I caught up to another kid and stayed just a step behind him until the last half mile.  We slowed a bit, but still a pretty good pace and no one was very close behind.  Third mile was 6:17.  Down to the last half mile and he pulled ahead a little and finished ahead of me.  This race is always a little short so last 0.92 mi was 5:41 (6:09 pace).  Overall, 4th place of 134, 24:10 and an 18 sec PR over last year's PR.  The guy that won overall was in my age group so didn't win a watermelon.  2nd place overall was a female.  I think they were around 2 minutes ahead of us so didn't even see them finish.  I didn't have a goal going into this race and had forget to check my time from last year so last minute going into it I was hoping to maintain close to a 6 min pace.

Once my stomach settled down, I ate a few pancakes.  I didn't run any cool down miles.  The rest of this week will be easy miles for me so I can be ready for the Psycho Psummer on Saturday.  I am a little concerned that I have not been putting in many trail miles recently and my overall mileage hasn't been that good.  My last long trail run was the Berryman Marathon on May 21st.  The 4 long runs I have done since have been on the road and I've only ran a couple trail runs.  I am hoping I can have a better finish than my Psycho Wyco Run Toto Run 50K in February.  I can be 100% sure there won't be snow on the ground for this one and I won't have back/buttock/leg issues but there will likely be heat and humidity.  Maybe there won't be mud.