Another day, another 70-mile week

Where did the time go? When I posted last, I had just finished my first-ever honest 70-mile week. Now, 10 days later, I'm two days into my next 70-mile week.

To review: Last week was a bit of a break, a 49-mile week which featured a 6-mile tempo run and and a 22-mile easy long run. The tempo was fun; I paced Heather on a 10K time trial, which was a good tempo pace for me. Then on Saturday I became a member of the Mangum Track Club by completing their coveted shirt run. What is the shirt run? It's a run at the crack of dawn, from the middle of nowhere to a spot 15 miles east of the middle of nowhere, near Ellerbe, NC. About 50 people showed up, and they make a party out of it, ordering about 30 pizzas and a couple coolers of coke, which they consume in the middle of the road at the end of the run. Here's me with Sarah and my new friend Michael on the run:

And here I am with my new MTC mates at the finish line:

Why do I look so tired? Because I added an extra 7 miles to get 22 miles!

This was a fun run but a serious commitment because Ellerbe is about 2 hours away from Davidson, so I woke up before 4 am just to get there on time! Here's the official DART photo of the five new MTC members who made the trip:

From left: Me, Sarah, Chad, Dave, and Todd

This week, as I mentioned before, I'm stepping the mileage up to 70 for one last time before Richmond. Yesterday and today I did two 9-milers with DART but tomorrow is when the real fun begins: a 19.9 mile run. The plan is to run 8 easy miles, then 40 minutes at marathon pace, then 5 min at tempo pace, then 20 min at marathon pace, 5 min tempo, 5 min marathon pace, before finally slowing down for a 2-mile cooldown. I'm tired just thinking about it. I think this time I will stay out on the road the whole time for a nice long run. Here's the plan:

Actually, this is backwards, but you get the idea

The route takes me on a grand tour of Davidson, Cornelius, and Huntersville, and finishes with the big hills on Shearer Road and Grey Road. If all goes well, I should complete it in just under 3 hours. Wish me luck!

70.1

I made it!

My goal last week was to run 70 miles and complete all my workouts as planned, and somehow I managed to do it. My two "quality" workouts were especially intense. On Thursday I did four tempo runs with short breaks inbetween, and on Sunday I did 8 miles at marathon pace or faster, along with 9 easy miles for a total of 17. I knew Sunday's run would be especially challenging and I was surprised that Mark, Tommy, Matt, and Tim were all interested in running all or part of it with me.

Mark, Tommy, and I started at 6 am, running 6 miles at an easy pace. Then Matt and Tim joined for the tough part of the workout. The plan was to run 30 minutes at marathon pace, then a 5-minute tempo, then repeat. Marathon pace for me is now 7:40, so it's faster than I'm accustomed to running on long runs. Miles 1-4 felt good and we kept a solid pace: 7:41, 7:36, 7:35, 7:34. Then it was time to pick it up. I accelerated to a 7:00 pace and heard the other runners groan. At this point Mark, Matt, and Tim were with me, and they were all solid. We took a break for a couple minutes, then started off on the next series.

This time it things didn't seem quite so easy, but we managed to maintain the pace for 3 miles. Then I decided it was time to pick things up again -- once again, I was wrong; we should have run another mile. Matt and Tim weren't carrying water so they stopped at a water fountain after about 1 minute, and Mark succumbed to the temptation as well. I pressed on, knowing a 7:00 pace was out of reach on this uphill stretch, on a very muggy morning. I finished my 5-minute tempo and then stopped and waited for the guys. My splits for legs 6-9: 7:37, 7:34, 7:46, 7:15. Not ideal, but on this very muggy morning, I'll take it.

Mark, Matt and Tim caught up to me and we started our easy cool-down run into town. Only, as usual for me after tough workouts, the cool-down ended up being the hardest part. I let the three of them run ahead and met them at the CVS. Since I had messed up on the length of the marathon-pace workout, we still had a mile to go. Matt and Tim needed to head back to Birkdale (they were doing 20), but I convinced Mark to join me for another mile of cool-down, which gave me a solid 70.1 miles for the week.

This was my longest normal training week ever, with a rest day Monday and 6 days of running. I've run farther before, but only in weeks when I pushed my Sunday run from the previous week to Monday, which in my mind doesn't count because that Monday run "belongs" to the previous week.

Week in review:

M: Rest
T: Easy 12.38 miles
W: Easy 9 miles
T: Tough 13.5-mile tempo workout
F: Easy 10 miles
S: Easy 8 miles
S: Tough 17-mile Marathon Pace workout

70.1 miles, 9 hours and 40 minutes, 2,884 feet elevation gain.


Details on the core, marathon-pace segment of the run are below:

53.09

I've run 53.09 miles so far this week. This morning's 8-miler was the latest. I wasn't feeling great this morning, and I have a guess why: I didn't hydrate very well last night. It was a Friday, I knew I had a relatively easy run the next day, and so I had a couple margaritas and a couple glasses of wine. All that adds up to a not-great feeling in the morning. It was rainy, but I put off my start for 30 minutes and managed to get in a run without getting much rain at all.

Tomorrow I've got a very tough 17-miler planned, including 9 miles at my new 7:40 marathon pace. I'll be drinking much more water tonight, and I'll have a honey stinger waffle in the morning, so hopefully it will go better than today's run. Assuming I finish as planned, that will be a 70-mile week, the longest week I've ever run (I've come close several times this year but never done more than 70).

Looking forward to this!

What a difference 15 degrees makes

On Facebook today, Théoden asked runners to describe today's run in 5 words or less. I couldn't do it, so my summary read "What a difference 15 degrees makes (I know, that's six words, but I'm too exhausted to edit)."

On Saturday, I completed an entire half-marathon at a 7:13 pace. Today all I had to do was four tempo runs, with breaks between them, at a 7:00 pace. The cumulative mileage at tempo pace would be just 7.2 miles. That shouldn't be too hard, should it? But there was one big difference between Saturday and today: This morning was a steambath, with a temperature of 70 degrees and 100 percent humidity, while Saturday was a lovely fall-like morning, with a temperature of 55 and just enough breeze to cool you off.

After a two-mile warm-up I started into my first tempo and could tell almost immediately this wasn't going to be easy. The workout plan called for tempo runs of 22.5, 18, 13.5, and 4.5 minutes, with progressively shorter breaks between each. A 22.5-minute run at a 7:00 pace should be just over three miles. But clearly at this time of the morning, and at this level of exhaustion, I can't add. After two uphill miles at a 7:15 pace, I decided I only needed to run 5 more minutes. Uh, that would be three minutes short, but I didn't figure that out until about 30 seconds ago while I was writing this up. So in fact my first tempo was just 19:30, and my splits were 7:16, 7:14, and 6:55. Given that the first two miles were uphill, I was okay with the pace, but I wish I'd actually run this as planned. That said, I might not have finished the workout if I had! I jogged home and drank a glass of water and ate a vanilla GU. I'm not sure what I think of the GU, but at this point there was no time to dither; I'd already exceeded my planned 5-minute break by about 5 minutes.

I headed back out and warmed up for a block before taking off for an 18-minute tempo. This time I got the timing right and ran it in 6:54, 7:02, and 6:46. What a difference a primarily downhill course makes!

I had 4 minutes to rest before the next tempo, and fortunately I was at the bottom of Patrick Johnson Lane. I wouldn't have to run up the hill this time! I decided to walk the hill, then jog until my 4 minutes were up before starting up Pine Road, a gradual incline. Then I turned onto Avinger, getting a brief respite on its downhill, before the rolling hills of the greenway and the tough haul up South Street. Splits for this tempo were 6:58, 7:19.

After a bathroom break, I headed back out for my final tempo. I was adjusting my shorts on Main Street when a woman passed me. I passed her again as I started my warmup, then hit the accelerator for the final 4.5 minute tempo up Concord Road. I made it, running a 6:50 pace, then instantly slowed down for a two-mile cool down. As usual on these tempo runs, I often find the final cool-down run to be the hardest. I ended up running past my house and nearly to Robert Walker Drive before turning around and heading home. I was so spent I decided to walk for 60 seconds, just as the woman I had passed came down the hill towards me with a smug smile that seemed to say "at least I didn't have to walk."

When I finally arrived home, sopping with sweat, I was as relieved as I have ever been to finish a run. Two hours later, I'm still trying to rehydrate from this one.

Details of today's run are below.

Rethinking pacing for Richmond

After Saturday's surprising finish at Run for Green, I'm starting to wonder whether I should be revising my goals for the Richmond Marathon.

It's difficult to get a good sense of where you stand when you're training over the summer. The weather is so hot and humid, you're inevitably going to slow down. But how much? You can't know for sure until fall arrives and you can run in cool weather again. I got that chance on Saturday and what I found out is that I'm quite a bit faster than I thought.

I was never really pushing very hard, and yet I managed to maintain a 7:13 pace for 13 miles on what is, by all accounts, a very difficult course. The cumulative elevation gain at the Run for Green half-marathon is more than what I'll see during the entire Richmond Marathon. My plan for Run for Green had been to try to keep a 7:30 pace, but clearly I can handle a much faster pace than that. On a flatter half-marathon course, I'm pretty sure I could manage a sub-7-minute pace.

While I'm wary of putting too much stock in pace calculators, based on my Run for Green time, McMillan Running predicts a marathon pace of 7:37 per mile. That works out to a time of 3:19 for the race, or 6 minutes faster than my goal of 3:25, without even accounting for the fact that Richmond is an easier course.

So, what should I do when I get to Richmond? Should I stick with my original plan of going out at a 7:49 pace, just fast enough to minimally qualify for Boston? Should I go with McMillan's pace of 7:37, or even faster since this is an easier course?

I think given my end-of-race struggles in my first two marathons, it's a mistake to go out too fast. But I do think 7:49 is a little too conservative, especially considering that people who just barely beat their Boston Qualifying times can still fail to actually be invited to race. For now I think I'm going to shoot for a 7:40 pace. That works out to a 3:21 marathon, which would still be a fantastic time for me. If I'm feeling great at Mile 20, I might consider speeding up a bit and trying to finish under 3:20, which would allow me to register early for Boston.

After two weeks of training that were disrupted a bit by racing, this week is slated to be a tough training week: 70 miles including some hard tempo runs on Thursday and a lot of marathon-pace running on Sunday. If the weather stays cool, I'll be running at my new marathon pace of 7:40.

Race Recap: The Run For Green Half Marathon

When I signed up for the Run for Green Half Marathon in my home town a month and a half ago, I knew I'd be taking a bit of a risk. Temperatures for a late-September race in Davidson, North Carolina could end up being in the 70s or even 80s. But as race day approached, it was clear those fears would not be realized. Instead we had nearly perfect weather, 55 degrees and overcast. A slightly cooler day might have been preferable, but given the alternative, I wasn't complaining.

I arrived at the town green at 6:50 a.m. and spent 20 minutes hobnobbing with the locals. Despite having lived here for 17 years, somehow I'd never been in a race in town; I'm not used to knowing 20 or 30 people at a road race. As I mentioned yesterday, it's a hilly course, with the toughest hills on the last half. Indeed, the total elevation gain for this half-marathon is more than what I expect to see for the Richmond full marathon in less than two months.

I lined up about three rows back at the starting line, next to fellow DARTers Mark Ippolito and Tommy Wagoner.

Mark

Tommy

I told them I was planning a 7:30 pace and that sounded good to them. I also chatted with Richard Hefner, AKA Old Runner, and Allen Strickland of Allen's Road to Boston. Kevin Ballantine was also there. Kevin and Allen are lightning fast, but they were pacing friends, so wouldn't be running this one all-out.

Kevin

The first mile was downhill, so as the starting gun went off I took off at about a 7:00 pace, planning to slow down later. Mark and Tommy stayed with me and we were running fairly close to Kevin and his partner, whose name I didn't get. After a mile, we hit the first uphill and still felt pretty good so didn't slow down much. Then it was down, down, down, for another mile and a half. Splits for Miles 1-3, 7:08, 7:22, 7:17.

Now we were heading into River Run, and its rolling hills that are short but can be quite steep. A woman, who I later learned was Krista Schoenewolf, passed us, saying "I've been trying to catch you for four miles!" I guess that was supposed to be a compliment. As we ran, we started to wonder when we'd see the elite runners, Kalib Wilkinson and Molly Nunn, both contenders for the US Olympic Trials. Since the course was an out-and-back, we'd definitely get to see them leading the way home. The hills rolled along, and I was expecting to start to feel the need to get back to a 7:30 pace, as I had planned. Meanwhile we also seemed to be getting ahead of the mile markers; everyone's GPS was beeping a considerable distance past the markers. That means the pace recorded by our GPS timers would be slower than the official time — always a comforting feeling! Finally we saw Kalib around mile 5.5, looking very relaxed as he crushed the course. At the six mile marker we saw Molly, surrounded by three guys, including DART's own Tim Richter, who also looked quite strong. Splits for miles 4-6, 7:16, 7:17, 7:09.

Kalib

Tim

Right around the end of Mile 6, we turned onto the final section of greenway, one of the few fairly flat parts of the course. Now we were seeing quite a few runners headed the other way, including DARTers Kathy Rink and Matt Williams.

Kathy

Matt

We hit the turnaround and started back into town, and then I really began to realize how many folks I knew in this race. I saw Terry Ake, Tristan Van Vuuren, Gabrielle Craig, Julie Alsop, Chris Flaherty, Eileen O'Flaherty, Keyne Cheshire, and probably a half-dozen other who passed by too quickly for me to remember.

Julie and DARTer / husband Jeremy

Eileen and family

This got me pumped, and I started to put out a bit more effort as we started back into town. River Run is considerably lower than downtown Davidson, and so once you've run down into the place, you have to climb back out. Despite the hills, Tommy and I maintained a solid pace. Mark dropped back a bit, and Kevin started pulling away from the guy he had been pacing. It looked like I wouldn't be able to "beat" Kevin in this race. But I did seem to be gaining a bit of ground on Krista. Maybe I'd be able to pass her back before we reached the finish. Splits for miles 7-9: 7:16, 7:14, 7:16.

Next we'd be hitting the biggest hills of the race. Ahead of me in the distance I saw Richard, who had predicted yesterday in the comments on my blog that I'd be passing him around mile 8 or 9; he was doing considerably better than that. The first steep hill came and went and I still felt pretty good. Then there was a gradual downhill before we started the final ascent. I passed Richard on this section and told him he was on pace to run sub-1:40, which seemed to please him. Tommy had now dropped a little behind me. I reached the water stop before the notorious hill on Patrick Johnson Lane. Though I still felt good, I stuck to my plan of grabbing a cup of water, taking it to the bottom of the hill, and drinking the whole cup as I walked up the hill. As soon as I finished, I went back to full stride and made it to the top. The toughest part of the hill is the fact that you don't get much relief afterwards; it's a short downhill, then a long, gradual uphill to the finish. Somehow I managed to keep up the pace fairly well. Splits for miles 10-12: 7:09, 7:09, 7:22.

Just over a mile left, mostly on a gradual upslope, and somehow I found the energy to get going even faster. Krista was still ahead of me and I thought I might be able to catch her. I focused on solid, even strides, and picked up the pace. The final 200 meters or so is a dramatic uphill, and I ran as hard as I could all the way across the line, but I never managed to catch Krista. I was a little frustrated with that until I looked down at my watch. My final time was 1:33:30, including a 6:42 pace for the last mile!

Thanks, Bobby Aswell, for getting this picture of me crossing the line.

My goal had been a 1:38, so I shattered that, along with my previous PR of 1:43. Tim, Chad, Jeff, and Jeremy were there to congratulate me at the finish. Then I got to watch Mark, Tommy, Terry, Keyne, and several others cross the line as I ate a banana and rehydrated.

We had heard that the Flatiron Taphouse would be giving away free beer at the finish, so Tim, Terry, and I headed over and each got free small cup. It was the first time I'd ever had a beer after a race, and it wasn't so bad. Then Terry bought everyone another round — full pints this time. Normally I can handle drinking a pint and a half of beer without much of a problem, but this time I found I felt quite loopy. I guess that's the difference between drinking beer on a relaxing afternoon and drinking it after finishing a punishing half-marathon. While I enjoyed the beer, I don't think I'll imbibe after a full marathon when I'm almost certain to barely be able to walk, with or without a beer.

Then Matt showed up with his prize and told us they had already announced the awards, so we hurried back to the finisher's tent to find out if we had won anything. Indeed, we had. Here is a summary of the DART take:

Tim Richter: 5th overall, 1st master, 1:24:20
Matt Williams: 7th overall, 1st age group, 1:26:31
Kathy Rink: 3rd female, 1st master: 1:29:46
Dave Munger: 1st age group, 1:33:31
Tommy Wagoner: 1:34:34
Mark Ippolito: 1st age group, 1:35:55
Terry Ake: 2nd age group, 1:39:14
Julie Alsop: 2nd age group, 1:39:53
Chris Joakim: 1:51:31
Tristan Van Vuuren: 1:54:47
Lori Ackerman: 2:01:26
Eileen O'Flaherty: 2:34:16

Let me know if I missed anyone!

My GPS measured the course at 12.97 miles, just a little short. That's within the margin of error of GPS, but even assuming it was correct, my pace of 7:13 for the race would have given me a time of about 1:34:30 over 13.1 miles, still a PR. All in all a great day of racing; I guess all my hard training over the summer paid off.

The photos here are all courtesy of Chad Randolph, who was a race volunteer; at the starting line I realized I still had my phone, so I gave it to him and he took some great shots!

My GPS record of the race is below.

Race strategy: The Run for Green Half Marathon

Tomorrow morning I'll be running my town's half-marathon, the Run for Green. I'm a little surprised at how this crept up on me. A year ago I had only run two half-marathons in my life, and running one was a major event. Now that I've run two full marathons, a half feels more like a hard training run than a race.

That said, I am still a little concerned about the race. For one thing, I ran a very challenging relay last week and I'm not sure I'm fully recovered. For another, it will be the first really chilly day of the season and I'm not exactly sure what to wear. The weather forecast is for a 50 percent chance of showers and 50 degree weather. I'm pretty sure that's still singlet and shorts weather for me, but even this morning, on a breezy, 59-degree day, I felt a little chilly. That said, an easy recovery run is very different from running a half marathon at sub-8-minute-pace. I think the singlet and shorts will be fine. One thing I may consider doing is wearing compression socks. I wore them for the final leg of the Blue Ridge Relay and I think they helped keep my legs from wearing out on the strain of those long downhills.

The other concern is pace. I ran a preview of the course a couple weeks back and it's a challenging route, with 600 feet of cumulative elevation gain. Here's the elevation profile:

We Davidson runners like to say that every route in town ends with an uphill, and this course is no exception, with nearly 200 feet of climbing in the last two miles. While there are some undulations, basically you run into a hole, then run back out of it. So, should you "bank time" at the start with the intention of making it up at the end? I don't think I'll be doing too much of that. I'm shooting for a 7:30 average pace, which would be just over a 1:38 time for the whole race. I definitely want to keep my pace slower than 7:00 miles even on primarily downhill miles. The course is undulating enough that any time "banked" will probably be spent on the next uphill.

I think the key to the course is the final two miles. You're running up a slightly-uphill greenway, then with  roughly 1.6 miles to go you hit the steepest hill on the course, Patrick Johnson Lane. It's not Blue-Ridge steep, but it's a dramatic hill for any road race. I think I will grab a cup of water at the stop right before this hill, then drink it as I walk up the first half. Then I'll get right back to running, finishing the steep hill and maintaining speed for the gradual uphill to the finish.

Given the cooler temperatures and possibility of rain, I won't drink much, just a sip or two every couple of miles. I will bring my usual gel-every-four-miles, which seems to serve me well at longer races.

If I manage to pull off the 7:30 pace, I'll set a new PR by nearly five minutes. Wish me luck!