With my foot bothering me, I haven't run all week. Yesterday, I wanted to check out the D&L Half Marathon course, so I went out and rode my bike. I started the Cementon Trailhead and ended up riding over 9 miles to the Slatington Trailhead. I then rode back and it took me 1 hour and 40 minutes. After Hurricane Sandy went through, the trail was in surprisingly good shape. There were a lot of twigs, but not much else.
I saw the D&L folks asked for some help to clear the course. I met up with them in Slatington this morning. I thought I'd end up raking and picking up twigs. Instead, I spent over 4 hours filling in some of the washed away sections with stone. It was tough because I don't work my upper body at all and I had to do a lot of shoveling. I'm sure I'll be sore tomorrow.
I was also working to get some pacers for the race. One of the pacers from the Runner's World Half was looking for pacers for the D&L. I managed to get Angie and Tom to do it. I wish I could've got some more people though.
Evening finally rolled around and it was time for the weekly LVRR Group Run. A guy named Karl asked earlier in the day if the run was still on. I said yes, but wasn't sure if he would show. I saw a car, the same make and model as mine, driving around, but they didn't park. A couple minutes later they came back and this time I got out of my car. It was Karl and his girlfriend Chelsea.
I almost left before they showed up. It was close to 6:10 and no one else showed. I was prepared to just call it a night and not run. I was glad to have some company though.
I wanted to test out the sore foot anyway. We started off heading east. That was good because it was nice and flat and there was plenty of light. That wouldn't last.
Chelsea ran beside me and Karl was behind me. We chatted about plenty, including the Runner's World race. Time flew by.
It wouldn't take too long before we were slowed down. There were some trees along the trail. The storm knocked them out everywhere. We had to stop and climb over a lot of them.
Shortly after the bridge by the Clubhouse, we came across two runners going the other direction with headlamps on. I decided at that point to put my headlamp on. Not just to see, but I also wanted to make sure we were visible to others.
I haven't used the headlamp yet this year, but today it was an absolute must. We would've run into downed tree after tree or tripped over branch after branch. There were a lot of trees down. Luckily, we managed to navigate around them. We obviously weren't the first ones to run the loop.
The trees were such a problem that we ended up off the trail right before the Fish Hatchery climb. I think a tree was blocking the trail. Even with the headlamp, I couldn't see too well. We ran through the grass and got back on the trail.
As usual, I climbed up the hill pretty well. Karl and Chelsea were back behind me. We had to go around a few more trees. I made sure to shine my headlamp back to them so that they could see.
After the Fish Hatchery, things cleared up. There were trees for the next half mile or so. It was nice and clear and flat. We cruised along.
The final three hills weren't too bad. There were still some trees, but we got by them quicker than earlier. Our pace was decent when we could run. We just had to slow down or stop a lot. The final mile was a solid 8:28. We finished up at 5 miles.
My foot still isn't right. It was bothering me, so I didn't run with good form. It was sore after the run. I guess staying off it a few days didn't help. I'm not sure how it will impact my race. It is just uncomfortable, not painful. I can definitely run 13.1 miles and I can run them fast. I'm just not sure I can run as fast as I would like. I'm certainly not going into the race at 100%. I will give it my all anyway.
I might try using an insole. I got one that seemed to help with walking. I put it in to run tonight, but it was uncomfortable. I took it out then. I might have to test it out on a short run tomorrow. That could make a huge difference. If I felt like I could put a lot of pressure on my foot without feeling anything, I'd do fine. I'm surprised that my quads are still sore too. I thought rest would help them. Maybe my running form threw it off
Whether I run tomorrow or not, I can't wait for the race. The course is pretty good and the weather appears to be outstanding. I'm definitely shooting for a PR. Other than my foot problem, everything is good. Sunday can't get here fast enough.
5 miles - 44:40 (8:56 pace)
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Keeping Myself in Check
Today is the usual weekly run with the BCR. Earlier in the week, Flo asked if anyone would run with her on Saturday. She got a lot of responses. She was doing a 20 miler and the others were just planning on running shorter distances. They were going to meet her at 7 AM and she was starting at 6 AM.
I figured that I'd give her some company at 6 AM for the beginning of her run. I was excited to run a fairly fast pace too. I was hoping for 12 miles this week before my half marathon next week. Something in the range of 7:30-7:45 would be nice.
We started so early that it was nearly pitch black. We ran without headlamps though. I've done that before here on the Nor-Bath Trail, so it wasn't too big of a deal. We just needed to adjust our eyes.
It is late October, but it was surprisingly warm today. I ran with just a short sleeve shirt and shorts and I took my shirt off part way through the run. I guess I shouldn't say it was warm, but it was humid. Before the run, I knew I was dehydrated. I didn't drink enough overnight. That made this outing tough.
Flo and I cruised along. The first mile was slow by our standards. We couldn't go too fast anyway since we couldn't see the trail up ahead. Things picked up as it got lighter. We chatted about running and other things. That combined with the fact that I couldn't see my watch made time fly.
I was glad I could give her company and watch out for her. At one point, she almost ran into a gate at a road crossing. Before we turned around, she went into a parking lot rather than staying on the trail. Luckily, I run this trail a lot, so I know where I'm going, even in the dark.
With the humidity, the pace was a bit of a challenge early on. I was definitely struggling some with my breathing. Flo was having no trouble. With the fast pace, I was running up on my toes. My foot felt good when I did that. I had no issues there.
We went out to a road crossing about a quarter mile before hitting the 4 mile mark. That was a good start. We needed to get back in time for Flo to meet up with Mel and anyone else that showed up to run.
I didn't think I could run on my toes the whole time, so I ran more with a midfoot strike the mile or so before we turned around. That started to bother me. I could feel each impact. It isn't pain, but rather just some minor soreness. It does get annoying though.
After we turned around, I told Flo that I wasn't feeling great and she could take off. I don't know what it was, but even without the foot issue, I just didn't feel strong. Flo said she was fine with the pace. Before I knew it, she was long gone though. Later on, she said she felt great today.
When we ran a couple weeks ago, she was ahead of me, but I managed to hang on. I wasn't too far back of her then. The problem today was that once she was just a little bit ahead of me, I couldn't see her any more in the dark. At one point, I could see her watch light up way ahead.
With her gone, I backed off the pace. I ran over 8 minute miles for the rest of the run. I actually couldn't wait for the run to be over. Not so much because my foot was bothering me that much, but because I didn't feel as though I was accomplishing much. This run sort of ended up being like a reverse progression run. It was faster in the beginning and slower at the end.
I figured that when I got back to the start, I'd be around 7.5 miles. I like round numbers, so I decided that I would run 8 miles before quitting. Running the extra 4 miles wasn't going to accomplish anything. I'm already well trained for next week's race. Doing more is only going to hurt me, not help me.
When I returned to the start of the trail, I did a short out and back. I saw April starting her run as I was turning around. I passed them on my way back in. I also saw Flo, Mel and Angie starting up. I was glad just to be done.
The only problem with starting this early was that I had to wait around before breakfast. I chatted with the main group before they started up at 7:30. Then I walked on the trail for about 15 minutes. Without running, it was actually cold out and I didn't have a jacket. I went back to my car to get warm and then I got some more water too.
It wasn't too long before some people were back from there run. Then the whole group gathered. There were a lot of people that were either new or that I had never met before. It was fun to chat with them. That continued on to breakfast. We talked about a lot of things.
One of the interesting items was Dave's new run. It will be a 4.4 mile loop that begins each hour. You have to complete a loop within the hour and then you run another one the next hour. This keeps going until everyone quits. It sounds like fun, but it also sounds like something I might get myself hurt doing. I don't know if I want to participate or not. When I do things like this, I do them all or nothing. We'll see what happens between now and early December.
I'm definitely not happy with my foot. I'll take even more rest this week. I need to try as much as I can to be 100% for the race. Otherwise, getting a PR will be tough. I'm not sure that I'll run more than twice this week. Better safe than sorry.
The good thing about my foot is that it isn't too painful at this point. I feel as though I could tune it out come race day. I just hope it is healed by then. I know I can run the 13.1 miles on it. It is just a matter of how fast I can go. I was hoping to run in my lightweight shoes. That is all that I've done my speedwork in. Those are also the shoes that I was wearing when I hurt myself. Therefore, I'm going to play it safe and wear my regular shoes. That may end up costing me a few seconds each mile.
Since I'm beat up, I really have no idea when I'm going to run next. I definitely want to get a few miles in this week. For sure, I'll lead the group run on Thursday evening. We have a hurricane coming through on Monday and Tuesday and running through that sounds like fun too. Maybe I'll be smart about it and pass on running those days.
8 miles - 1:04:22 (8:03 pace)
I figured that I'd give her some company at 6 AM for the beginning of her run. I was excited to run a fairly fast pace too. I was hoping for 12 miles this week before my half marathon next week. Something in the range of 7:30-7:45 would be nice.
We started so early that it was nearly pitch black. We ran without headlamps though. I've done that before here on the Nor-Bath Trail, so it wasn't too big of a deal. We just needed to adjust our eyes.
It is late October, but it was surprisingly warm today. I ran with just a short sleeve shirt and shorts and I took my shirt off part way through the run. I guess I shouldn't say it was warm, but it was humid. Before the run, I knew I was dehydrated. I didn't drink enough overnight. That made this outing tough.
Flo and I cruised along. The first mile was slow by our standards. We couldn't go too fast anyway since we couldn't see the trail up ahead. Things picked up as it got lighter. We chatted about running and other things. That combined with the fact that I couldn't see my watch made time fly.
I was glad I could give her company and watch out for her. At one point, she almost ran into a gate at a road crossing. Before we turned around, she went into a parking lot rather than staying on the trail. Luckily, I run this trail a lot, so I know where I'm going, even in the dark.
With the humidity, the pace was a bit of a challenge early on. I was definitely struggling some with my breathing. Flo was having no trouble. With the fast pace, I was running up on my toes. My foot felt good when I did that. I had no issues there.
We went out to a road crossing about a quarter mile before hitting the 4 mile mark. That was a good start. We needed to get back in time for Flo to meet up with Mel and anyone else that showed up to run.
I didn't think I could run on my toes the whole time, so I ran more with a midfoot strike the mile or so before we turned around. That started to bother me. I could feel each impact. It isn't pain, but rather just some minor soreness. It does get annoying though.
After we turned around, I told Flo that I wasn't feeling great and she could take off. I don't know what it was, but even without the foot issue, I just didn't feel strong. Flo said she was fine with the pace. Before I knew it, she was long gone though. Later on, she said she felt great today.
When we ran a couple weeks ago, she was ahead of me, but I managed to hang on. I wasn't too far back of her then. The problem today was that once she was just a little bit ahead of me, I couldn't see her any more in the dark. At one point, I could see her watch light up way ahead.
With her gone, I backed off the pace. I ran over 8 minute miles for the rest of the run. I actually couldn't wait for the run to be over. Not so much because my foot was bothering me that much, but because I didn't feel as though I was accomplishing much. This run sort of ended up being like a reverse progression run. It was faster in the beginning and slower at the end.
I figured that when I got back to the start, I'd be around 7.5 miles. I like round numbers, so I decided that I would run 8 miles before quitting. Running the extra 4 miles wasn't going to accomplish anything. I'm already well trained for next week's race. Doing more is only going to hurt me, not help me.
When I returned to the start of the trail, I did a short out and back. I saw April starting her run as I was turning around. I passed them on my way back in. I also saw Flo, Mel and Angie starting up. I was glad just to be done.
The only problem with starting this early was that I had to wait around before breakfast. I chatted with the main group before they started up at 7:30. Then I walked on the trail for about 15 minutes. Without running, it was actually cold out and I didn't have a jacket. I went back to my car to get warm and then I got some more water too.
It wasn't too long before some people were back from there run. Then the whole group gathered. There were a lot of people that were either new or that I had never met before. It was fun to chat with them. That continued on to breakfast. We talked about a lot of things.
One of the interesting items was Dave's new run. It will be a 4.4 mile loop that begins each hour. You have to complete a loop within the hour and then you run another one the next hour. This keeps going until everyone quits. It sounds like fun, but it also sounds like something I might get myself hurt doing. I don't know if I want to participate or not. When I do things like this, I do them all or nothing. We'll see what happens between now and early December.
I'm definitely not happy with my foot. I'll take even more rest this week. I need to try as much as I can to be 100% for the race. Otherwise, getting a PR will be tough. I'm not sure that I'll run more than twice this week. Better safe than sorry.
The good thing about my foot is that it isn't too painful at this point. I feel as though I could tune it out come race day. I just hope it is healed by then. I know I can run the 13.1 miles on it. It is just a matter of how fast I can go. I was hoping to run in my lightweight shoes. That is all that I've done my speedwork in. Those are also the shoes that I was wearing when I hurt myself. Therefore, I'm going to play it safe and wear my regular shoes. That may end up costing me a few seconds each mile.
Since I'm beat up, I really have no idea when I'm going to run next. I definitely want to get a few miles in this week. For sure, I'll lead the group run on Thursday evening. We have a hurricane coming through on Monday and Tuesday and running through that sounds like fun too. Maybe I'll be smart about it and pass on running those days.
8 miles - 1:04:22 (8:03 pace)
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Not Alone This Week
The Thursday night group runs are going to be lonely affairs for me. Luckily, that wasn't the case this week. Jeff showed up to run with me. I haven't seen him since August. I knew he was injured before doing a half marathon and hadn't hear from him since. I figured he was having some issues.
Jeff did say he tried to stay active by biking and stuff. He ran for the first time yesterday and got 3 miles in. Since my quads were still a little sore from two days ago, I figured that if I was alone I'd only run the 5K course. We decided just to do 3 miles. That was good enough for me.
It seemed chilly at the start, so I put on arm sleeves. I was sweating by the end though. I couldn't believe how humid it was outside. I wasn't running too hard either.
It was good catching up with Jeff. We ran out to the Robin Hood Bridge and then into the eastern section of the Parkway. That was good because I don't run over there too often. The pace was slow for me, so my form was a little different. My foot wasn't a problem though. I think it isn't going to be a big deal.
I needed a nice and easy and relaxing run. We went out to the road and were around 1.3 miles. Time flew by. I couldn't believe how quickly this short run went by. We talked about running and football and before I knew it, we were back at the Clubhouse. Jeff stopped there and I kept going to complete the 3rd mile.
It was already quite dark by the time we finished. I considered taking a headlamp with me, but decided not too. I will definitely need it in the future, especially when we set the clocks back.
We are considering changing the run around, but I'm not sure what to do. It is tough to find a place that is lit without any traffic. I know the new Wednesday run is starting and Mulhenberg College and running around there. I'm thinking that the Bethlehem Steel area might be a good place to run. Something needs to change because we aren't getting anyone out anymore. Maybe a change of scenery would help. We will be kicked out with the Lights in the Parkway soon.
Speaking of Lights in the Parkway, they began setting that up already. I don't believe it starts until after Thanksgiving. It was cool running around some of the figures while we were able to see them with the daylight.
I need more nice and easy runs like today. It is has been a great week. My body is enjoying the rest. I'm not even sure if I'll run tomorrow or not. If I do, it will be short. The D1 cross country meet is at Lehigh, so I'll be there a lot of the day. I wouldn't mind getting 3 or 4 easy miles in. It may be better to just take off and prepare for my final long run on Saturday.
3 miles - 30:27 (10:09 pace)
Jeff did say he tried to stay active by biking and stuff. He ran for the first time yesterday and got 3 miles in. Since my quads were still a little sore from two days ago, I figured that if I was alone I'd only run the 5K course. We decided just to do 3 miles. That was good enough for me.
It seemed chilly at the start, so I put on arm sleeves. I was sweating by the end though. I couldn't believe how humid it was outside. I wasn't running too hard either.
It was good catching up with Jeff. We ran out to the Robin Hood Bridge and then into the eastern section of the Parkway. That was good because I don't run over there too often. The pace was slow for me, so my form was a little different. My foot wasn't a problem though. I think it isn't going to be a big deal.
I needed a nice and easy and relaxing run. We went out to the road and were around 1.3 miles. Time flew by. I couldn't believe how quickly this short run went by. We talked about running and football and before I knew it, we were back at the Clubhouse. Jeff stopped there and I kept going to complete the 3rd mile.
It was already quite dark by the time we finished. I considered taking a headlamp with me, but decided not too. I will definitely need it in the future, especially when we set the clocks back.
We are considering changing the run around, but I'm not sure what to do. It is tough to find a place that is lit without any traffic. I know the new Wednesday run is starting and Mulhenberg College and running around there. I'm thinking that the Bethlehem Steel area might be a good place to run. Something needs to change because we aren't getting anyone out anymore. Maybe a change of scenery would help. We will be kicked out with the Lights in the Parkway soon.
Speaking of Lights in the Parkway, they began setting that up already. I don't believe it starts until after Thanksgiving. It was cool running around some of the figures while we were able to see them with the daylight.
I need more nice and easy runs like today. It is has been a great week. My body is enjoying the rest. I'm not even sure if I'll run tomorrow or not. If I do, it will be short. The D1 cross country meet is at Lehigh, so I'll be there a lot of the day. I wouldn't mind getting 3 or 4 easy miles in. It may be better to just take off and prepare for my final long run on Saturday.
3 miles - 30:27 (10:09 pace)
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Foot Test
Yesterday my left foot bothered me during the cooldown portion of my speedwork session. That had me concerned. I didn't hurt while walking around today, but it did seem a little tender. The plan was to test it out and if it started to become a problem, I would back off. I'm 10 days out from my half marathon and it is time to cut back anyway.
I wanted to run in the morning, but I had to have some blood drawn. The afternoon was busy with the District XI Cross Country Meet. Chasing around 6 different races at Bethlehem Municipal Golf Course wore me out. The good thing was that all of the running around allowed me to test out my foot a bit. It seemed a little sore, but nothing too bad. My quads are beat up again after the speedwork session and in fact they felt much worse than my foot.
It seemed like forever until the awards ceremony was over for the cross country meet. Finally, I got to leave and get my run started. I decided that I was fairly close to Bicentennial Park, so I'd go there and run on the Nor-Bath Trail. It was a few minutes after 6 PM and I was already losing light.
I knew with it being dark, I'd have to watch the road crossings. I could actually get about 3 miles in without crossing any roads. I wanted to run 4 miles though.
I was just running easy today and started out very slow. There was some soreness in my foot, but I felt pretty good. I knew early on that I would likely complete the run. I may have overcompensated a little, but I made sure to try to put some pressure on it to test it out too.
Partly because of my worries about the foot, the 1st mile was very slow. I came across in 9:19. I got through the road crossing fine. Usually I would head east to Airport Road in this situation, but I opted to go the other direction this time. I figured that when I did decide to cross a road, I would hit less traffic.
I was hoping to get to 1.5 miles before turning around. That would give me only 1 mile to run in the other direction. As I approached 1.5 miles, I saw a woman up ahead walking a dog. I thought it was a woman anyway, but it was too dark to tell. I am a guy, so I had to run a farther and check her out. She was decent looking. This caused me to go to 1.75 miles out and turn around.
I actually passed a guy in this stretch too (didn't check him out). That was weird because there was almost no one out on the trail at dusk. I only saw those two and a guy on a bike fly by later on.
I continued on and by now it was getting quite dark. I really couldn't see much of anything. If there was an object on the trail, like a walnut, I would've tripped on it. Definitely not good for a sore foot. I'm not sure, but that might've been my issue yesterday, although I don't specifically remember stepping on anything.
The road crossing was busy the second time around. I had to wait a little and dart out in front of some headlights. I wasn't close to the car, but I probably should've waited.
By now, I had picked up the pace and was really moving. I almost didn't notice my foot at all. I was just cruising along and enjoying the cool breeze. I couldn't wait to just finish up.
I got back to Bicentennial Park and turned around for the short out and back. That was uneventful and before I knew it, I was done with a solid 8:14 final mile. A nice 4 mile recovery run where every mile got a little bit faster.
When I started at that park, there were a lot of cars in the lot watching kids play a soccer game. By the end of the run, just over half an hour later, all but two of them were gone. They left while I was stretching.
The run was solid and I'm happy that my foot didn't give me problems. I'm hoping things will stay that way. If not, I'll back off if I need to. For now, I'm good.
Tomorrow will be the regular group run with the LVRR. It sure would be nice if I didn't have to run it along again. I wasn't going to wear a headlamp, but after tonight's run, I might have to reconsider. It is getting quite dark by 6:30 PM now.
4 miles - 35:03 (8:46 pace)
I wanted to run in the morning, but I had to have some blood drawn. The afternoon was busy with the District XI Cross Country Meet. Chasing around 6 different races at Bethlehem Municipal Golf Course wore me out. The good thing was that all of the running around allowed me to test out my foot a bit. It seemed a little sore, but nothing too bad. My quads are beat up again after the speedwork session and in fact they felt much worse than my foot.
It seemed like forever until the awards ceremony was over for the cross country meet. Finally, I got to leave and get my run started. I decided that I was fairly close to Bicentennial Park, so I'd go there and run on the Nor-Bath Trail. It was a few minutes after 6 PM and I was already losing light.
I knew with it being dark, I'd have to watch the road crossings. I could actually get about 3 miles in without crossing any roads. I wanted to run 4 miles though.
I was just running easy today and started out very slow. There was some soreness in my foot, but I felt pretty good. I knew early on that I would likely complete the run. I may have overcompensated a little, but I made sure to try to put some pressure on it to test it out too.
Partly because of my worries about the foot, the 1st mile was very slow. I came across in 9:19. I got through the road crossing fine. Usually I would head east to Airport Road in this situation, but I opted to go the other direction this time. I figured that when I did decide to cross a road, I would hit less traffic.
I was hoping to get to 1.5 miles before turning around. That would give me only 1 mile to run in the other direction. As I approached 1.5 miles, I saw a woman up ahead walking a dog. I thought it was a woman anyway, but it was too dark to tell. I am a guy, so I had to run a farther and check her out. She was decent looking. This caused me to go to 1.75 miles out and turn around.
I actually passed a guy in this stretch too (didn't check him out). That was weird because there was almost no one out on the trail at dusk. I only saw those two and a guy on a bike fly by later on.
I continued on and by now it was getting quite dark. I really couldn't see much of anything. If there was an object on the trail, like a walnut, I would've tripped on it. Definitely not good for a sore foot. I'm not sure, but that might've been my issue yesterday, although I don't specifically remember stepping on anything.
The road crossing was busy the second time around. I had to wait a little and dart out in front of some headlights. I wasn't close to the car, but I probably should've waited.
By now, I had picked up the pace and was really moving. I almost didn't notice my foot at all. I was just cruising along and enjoying the cool breeze. I couldn't wait to just finish up.
I got back to Bicentennial Park and turned around for the short out and back. That was uneventful and before I knew it, I was done with a solid 8:14 final mile. A nice 4 mile recovery run where every mile got a little bit faster.
When I started at that park, there were a lot of cars in the lot watching kids play a soccer game. By the end of the run, just over half an hour later, all but two of them were gone. They left while I was stretching.
The run was solid and I'm happy that my foot didn't give me problems. I'm hoping things will stay that way. If not, I'll back off if I need to. For now, I'm good.
Tomorrow will be the regular group run with the LVRR. It sure would be nice if I didn't have to run it along again. I wasn't going to wear a headlamp, but after tonight's run, I might have to reconsider. It is getting quite dark by 6:30 PM now.
4 miles - 35:03 (8:46 pace)
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Killing It on My Final Tempo Run
It's been either easy running or no running for me over the last 4 days, but now it was time to go back to work. I considered running yesterday, but took the day off after having my calf cramp up in the morning. I knew it would be sore all day. Instead, I went on about a mile or so hike each way up Mt. Tammany at the Delaware Water Gap.
I was fine after the half marathon on Sunday, but this made for a nice recovery day. It was challenging, with a lot of climbing (about 1200 feet of it) and rocks. With all of the leaves changing colors, the view of Mt. Minsi on the other side of the river was spectacular.
I rested two days before the half marathon and then ran that at an easy pace and had another day off after the half marathon. I'm 12 days out from my goal half marathon, the D&L Half Marathon on November 4th. I figured that today would be the last day to get some hard running in. I will be running semi hard with Flo for 12 miles on Saturday, but I won't be pushing it quite like I was today.
I've been doing a lot of mile repeats lately. Those are certainly challenging, but at least I get some recovery breaks. I was thinking that I really haven't incorporated tempo runs into my training very much. I ran a lot of the 10K the other week alone, so it kind of became a tempo run. I've done another tempo run here or there earlier in the summer, but that was about the extent of it.
I was going to run in the morning, but it was raining. I love running in the rain, but I didn't want to try to do a key workout in those conditions. If it rains on race day, I'll just have to readjust my goals. For now, I wanted to try to run 5 or 6 miles straight near my goal pace of 7:00 per mile. Hitting mile repeats at that pace was tough enough, so I knew stringing together mile after mile at that pace could be tricky.
It was still cloudy when I started out in the early afternoon. Since my race is on the D&L Trail, I decided that I had to do this run on the course. I've actually done most of my speedwork on the course. The only thing is that I've done it on the early part of the course, not the final few miles. That's not too big of a deal though. I started off at the Cementon Trailhead and ran north.
I just bought a LVRR singlet over the weekend at the half marathon expo. I'm excited because I want to represent the club in a race. I've been waiting quite awhile for the singlets to be available. I will wear it at the D&L Half Marathon, but wanted to test it out today first. It worked great and passed the test with flying colors on this comfortable day. Come race day, I might need to add arm sleeves into the mix. We have LVRR ones of those too, but I didn't purchase any of them.
The extra rest lately has been huge for my aching quads. I've felt so good the last few days. Usually I can tell how well I'll do in hard workouts just based on how I feel during the warmup. Although there was still some slight stiffness, I felt much more fluid early on than I have lately. I wasn't going hard, but I was feeling fast and light for a change. The warmup mile came in at 8:09. I didn't push much until the end of it.
After warming up, it was on to the tough part of the run. I was hoping that I could hit all my miles under 7 minute pace, but the big thing was to just run 5 or 6 miles hard. Even if that meant they were only 7:10 or 7:15 miles, so be it. This workout would give me a fairly good idea of what I can do in the race.
The first mile wasn't hard, but a little uncomfortable. I got into a groove and cruised along. I wish it would've been a little easier, but I was right around a 7 minute pace and didn't want to back off. I felt good after that mile, but it was hard to believe that I still had 4 or 5 miles to go at or near that pace. Hard mile 1 was run at a 6:57.
Things didn't get any easier in the second mile. I tried not to think about how difficult it would be to sustain the pace for the duration of the run. Instead, I just focused on getting through the next mile. That wasn't easy in this mile, but I did it. The mile got faster by the end and finished up at 6:51.
My legs were certainly feeling it at this point. I kind of felt like this was a little fast. Ideally a 7:05 pace would've probably been a little better. I might've had more left for the end. Regardless, I kept on pushing. It's hard to slow by just that little bit.
I planned on turning around after the third mile, so I knew I just had to focus on getting to that point. It is more uphill going out than it is going back. It might not get any easier on the way back, but I could run with slightly less effort and still hit my time goals. My GPS was definitely a little off in the first tenth of this mile. It said I was going at a 5:30 pace. That certainly wasn't happening. In the end, I think this mile was pretty accurate. I came through that third mile at 6:56.
These first three hard miles were right on target with my 5K pace for the race in early September. That's definitely fairly impressive. They did take a lot out of me. The end of the third mile had a little more uphill that earlier on. That was tough.
Turning around was a huge relief. It was still crazy to think I had 2 or 3 more hard miles to go though. I tried to sort of relax just a little and recover some on this mile. Early on, it was around 7:30 pace, but for most of the mile, it dropped to around 7:10-7:15 pace. I pushed more and more towards the end, but wasn't willing to kill myself to get that mile under 7 minutes. I finished at 7:09 and that was good enough.
That mile and my final mile was what impressed me most. Too often in these speedwork sessions, I've got to what I felt was my limit and just backed off. If I hit a mile repeat that was around 7:10, I'd often just quit. I don't push through enough whenever I don't hit my goals. I knew I didn't have much left, but I kept battling through it.
The fifth hard mile was my final one at a fast pace. I just kept telling myself to really give it my all and get through this mile. Now wasn't the time to quit. I was slipping, but I wasn't falling off that much. I only had a few minutes of hard running left, so what was the big deal? I need to be mentally tougher and today I definitely was. I knew that if I tried for a sixth hard mile that I probably would fall off, but I just had to get through this fifth one.
The pep talk to myself worked. I'm sure I had some help from the downhill slope of the trail too. Regardless, I kept battling and battling. I was happy to be almost done when I hit the slight uphill. I was able to relax a little at the end and still hit my goal pace with a 6:53. I guess the recovery I gave myself on the previous mile helped too.
One thing that is tough is that there isn't much time to relax in tempo runs. Often times when I run mile repeats, I can back off a bit in the final tenth of the mile or so. I do that if I am under goal pace. I couldn't do that on a tempo run because then I'd start off the next mile too slow. I had to be fairly consistent. Overall, I felt that I was.
I was 2 miles out when the hard running was over. I wanted to do a mile cooldown. I decided that a mile was good enough and another mile of walking would be a fine way to finish up. That worked well and I didn't feel all that sore when I got back to my car. The only issue I encountered was some soreness on my foot during the cooldown mile. I had to readjust how I planted my foot. It is at the bone below the big toe. I'll have to watch for that and be cautious. I don't want it to turn into something big. I may need to consider racing in my regular shoes rather than the minimalist shoes that I was wearing today.
I might not have got every hard mile under 7 minutes, but overall I was under my goal pace. It would've been great to get another mile in under 7 minutes, but 5 miles will do. It was a good workout and a good bounce back after some tough speed sessions lately.
Running on my own, I think this workout is a fairly good indication of where I am at for the race. I would've liked if I could've hit these times with a little more ease. It is what it is though. I'd love to break a 7:00 pace for the race, but my PR pace of 7:06 is likely more realistic. I will shoot for 7:00 and then if I don't get it, I should still be able to PR.
At least I now know that I can push through a tough 5 miles. As long as I save something, I should be able to finish strong in the final 5K to 5 miles. The key will be getting to that point without overtaxing myself. I just need some decent competition to pull me through those early miles. If I can hit those near goal pace and not beat myself up, I should achieve my goals. This is a small race and I don't know what to expect on race day. Either way, the fact that I can consider a PR after just 6 months back into training is impressive.
Tomorrow, I will start doing mostly easy running. I have no idea where I'll go. It will be 5 or 6 miles somewhere. I have to run in the morning since the District XI cross country meet is in the afternoon. I'm feeling good heading into the home stretch before my half marathon. I can't wait for it to get here. I'm so ready to see what I can do.
7 miles - 51:26 (7:21 pace)
I was fine after the half marathon on Sunday, but this made for a nice recovery day. It was challenging, with a lot of climbing (about 1200 feet of it) and rocks. With all of the leaves changing colors, the view of Mt. Minsi on the other side of the river was spectacular.
I rested two days before the half marathon and then ran that at an easy pace and had another day off after the half marathon. I'm 12 days out from my goal half marathon, the D&L Half Marathon on November 4th. I figured that today would be the last day to get some hard running in. I will be running semi hard with Flo for 12 miles on Saturday, but I won't be pushing it quite like I was today.I've been doing a lot of mile repeats lately. Those are certainly challenging, but at least I get some recovery breaks. I was thinking that I really haven't incorporated tempo runs into my training very much. I ran a lot of the 10K the other week alone, so it kind of became a tempo run. I've done another tempo run here or there earlier in the summer, but that was about the extent of it.
I was going to run in the morning, but it was raining. I love running in the rain, but I didn't want to try to do a key workout in those conditions. If it rains on race day, I'll just have to readjust my goals. For now, I wanted to try to run 5 or 6 miles straight near my goal pace of 7:00 per mile. Hitting mile repeats at that pace was tough enough, so I knew stringing together mile after mile at that pace could be tricky.
It was still cloudy when I started out in the early afternoon. Since my race is on the D&L Trail, I decided that I had to do this run on the course. I've actually done most of my speedwork on the course. The only thing is that I've done it on the early part of the course, not the final few miles. That's not too big of a deal though. I started off at the Cementon Trailhead and ran north.
I just bought a LVRR singlet over the weekend at the half marathon expo. I'm excited because I want to represent the club in a race. I've been waiting quite awhile for the singlets to be available. I will wear it at the D&L Half Marathon, but wanted to test it out today first. It worked great and passed the test with flying colors on this comfortable day. Come race day, I might need to add arm sleeves into the mix. We have LVRR ones of those too, but I didn't purchase any of them.
The extra rest lately has been huge for my aching quads. I've felt so good the last few days. Usually I can tell how well I'll do in hard workouts just based on how I feel during the warmup. Although there was still some slight stiffness, I felt much more fluid early on than I have lately. I wasn't going hard, but I was feeling fast and light for a change. The warmup mile came in at 8:09. I didn't push much until the end of it.
After warming up, it was on to the tough part of the run. I was hoping that I could hit all my miles under 7 minute pace, but the big thing was to just run 5 or 6 miles hard. Even if that meant they were only 7:10 or 7:15 miles, so be it. This workout would give me a fairly good idea of what I can do in the race.
The first mile wasn't hard, but a little uncomfortable. I got into a groove and cruised along. I wish it would've been a little easier, but I was right around a 7 minute pace and didn't want to back off. I felt good after that mile, but it was hard to believe that I still had 4 or 5 miles to go at or near that pace. Hard mile 1 was run at a 6:57.Things didn't get any easier in the second mile. I tried not to think about how difficult it would be to sustain the pace for the duration of the run. Instead, I just focused on getting through the next mile. That wasn't easy in this mile, but I did it. The mile got faster by the end and finished up at 6:51.
My legs were certainly feeling it at this point. I kind of felt like this was a little fast. Ideally a 7:05 pace would've probably been a little better. I might've had more left for the end. Regardless, I kept on pushing. It's hard to slow by just that little bit.
I planned on turning around after the third mile, so I knew I just had to focus on getting to that point. It is more uphill going out than it is going back. It might not get any easier on the way back, but I could run with slightly less effort and still hit my time goals. My GPS was definitely a little off in the first tenth of this mile. It said I was going at a 5:30 pace. That certainly wasn't happening. In the end, I think this mile was pretty accurate. I came through that third mile at 6:56.
These first three hard miles were right on target with my 5K pace for the race in early September. That's definitely fairly impressive. They did take a lot out of me. The end of the third mile had a little more uphill that earlier on. That was tough.
Turning around was a huge relief. It was still crazy to think I had 2 or 3 more hard miles to go though. I tried to sort of relax just a little and recover some on this mile. Early on, it was around 7:30 pace, but for most of the mile, it dropped to around 7:10-7:15 pace. I pushed more and more towards the end, but wasn't willing to kill myself to get that mile under 7 minutes. I finished at 7:09 and that was good enough.
That mile and my final mile was what impressed me most. Too often in these speedwork sessions, I've got to what I felt was my limit and just backed off. If I hit a mile repeat that was around 7:10, I'd often just quit. I don't push through enough whenever I don't hit my goals. I knew I didn't have much left, but I kept battling through it.
The fifth hard mile was my final one at a fast pace. I just kept telling myself to really give it my all and get through this mile. Now wasn't the time to quit. I was slipping, but I wasn't falling off that much. I only had a few minutes of hard running left, so what was the big deal? I need to be mentally tougher and today I definitely was. I knew that if I tried for a sixth hard mile that I probably would fall off, but I just had to get through this fifth one.
The pep talk to myself worked. I'm sure I had some help from the downhill slope of the trail too. Regardless, I kept battling and battling. I was happy to be almost done when I hit the slight uphill. I was able to relax a little at the end and still hit my goal pace with a 6:53. I guess the recovery I gave myself on the previous mile helped too.
One thing that is tough is that there isn't much time to relax in tempo runs. Often times when I run mile repeats, I can back off a bit in the final tenth of the mile or so. I do that if I am under goal pace. I couldn't do that on a tempo run because then I'd start off the next mile too slow. I had to be fairly consistent. Overall, I felt that I was.I was 2 miles out when the hard running was over. I wanted to do a mile cooldown. I decided that a mile was good enough and another mile of walking would be a fine way to finish up. That worked well and I didn't feel all that sore when I got back to my car. The only issue I encountered was some soreness on my foot during the cooldown mile. I had to readjust how I planted my foot. It is at the bone below the big toe. I'll have to watch for that and be cautious. I don't want it to turn into something big. I may need to consider racing in my regular shoes rather than the minimalist shoes that I was wearing today.
I might not have got every hard mile under 7 minutes, but overall I was under my goal pace. It would've been great to get another mile in under 7 minutes, but 5 miles will do. It was a good workout and a good bounce back after some tough speed sessions lately.
Running on my own, I think this workout is a fairly good indication of where I am at for the race. I would've liked if I could've hit these times with a little more ease. It is what it is though. I'd love to break a 7:00 pace for the race, but my PR pace of 7:06 is likely more realistic. I will shoot for 7:00 and then if I don't get it, I should still be able to PR.
At least I now know that I can push through a tough 5 miles. As long as I save something, I should be able to finish strong in the final 5K to 5 miles. The key will be getting to that point without overtaxing myself. I just need some decent competition to pull me through those early miles. If I can hit those near goal pace and not beat myself up, I should achieve my goals. This is a small race and I don't know what to expect on race day. Either way, the fact that I can consider a PR after just 6 months back into training is impressive.
Tomorrow, I will start doing mostly easy running. I have no idea where I'll go. It will be 5 or 6 miles somewhere. I have to run in the morning since the District XI cross country meet is in the afternoon. I'm feeling good heading into the home stretch before my half marathon. I can't wait for it to get here. I'm so ready to see what I can do.
7 miles - 51:26 (7:21 pace)
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Pacing the Runner's World Half Marathon
It has been an outstanding weekend, capped off by pacing the inaugural Runner's World Half Marathon in Bethlehem. This was a busy weekend for sure. I started off by working the expo booth on Friday. I got to meet some of the other pacers as well as just a few other folks. On Saturday, I didn't get to race the 10K like I had planned, since I had a funeral to attend.
Saturday night continued the entertainment. I was back from the funeral in time for the pasta dinner. I got there earlier than some of the other pacers, so I just sat with a random group of people. Kelley's dad actually ended up sitting at my table. He had forgotten that I met him the day before. I talked with a bunch of the other people at the table as well as him. One of them was local, but another was from New Hampshire and yet another was from Florida. That was kind of the theme of the weekend. With all the races going on and the speakers that Runner's World had setup, they truly made this an event.
I sat with the pacers a little bit at the dinner too. We discussed some strategy and other things. We killed time until seeing Matt Long speak. He survived getting run over by a bus. He came back and ran a marathon and completed an Ironman. Even though my post surgery wasn't anywhere near what he went through. I can certainly relate to him in a lot of areas of recovery. The hospital stay was tough and I was depressed for months.
Sunday was the feature race. The Runner's World Half Marathon. I chose to run the D&L Half Marathon in a couple weeks as my goal race because it is flatter and cheaper. Thankfully, my friend Laurie told me that more pacers were needed for this race. I signed up to pace the 2:10 group. I knew that would be fun and also a challenge.
I'm shooting for running around a 1:30 half marathon in two weeks. My training runs are fairly comfortable and I usually run about 1:45 in those for the half marathon distance. This was definitely a slower distance that I'm used to. We had two pacers, so that was a huge help.
Ingrid, who I didn't meet until this weekend, was the other pacer. She is experienced in doing this, so I followed her lead. Going between the parking area, bathrooms and start line was somewhat of a pain before the race, but I managed. We had to meet early to get a photo of all the pacers together at the starting line. Olympic Marathoner Shalane Flanagan was there all weekend to meet people and sign autographs. She decided to run the race as a training run. Some training run, as she was still the 2nd place female. Since she was running, she got into the photo with the pacers. That was cool.
Ingrid and I then lined up near our starting position. They didn't have corral starts, but they still made signs showing the goal paces. Kelley and her dad happened to be starting near me. It was good to see them. They made matching shirts to run together with. Her dad hasn't run more than 5Ks lately, so it was impressive to see him running with her. I ended up answering a lot of questions about pacing at the start. Mainly, people wanted to know if we were running through the water stations or not. We weren't ever planning on stopping, just slowing a bit maybe.
The weather and wind made dressing a little tricky. I knew that the arm sleeves would be a bit much when running, but I felt that they would be needed while standing around. Maybe I should've worn a junk sweatshirt to throw away.
We started off on time. Since we were so far back, we didn't cross the starting line until over a minute after the clock started. This was actually a perfect sized race. It was big, the biggest in Lehigh Valley, but not as crazy as an overcrowded big city race. As a pacer, I was kind of concerned that it might get crowded around us in the beginning, but it wasn't too bad.
The start is downhill in front of Bethlehem Steel. With the excitement of the race, we went out a little fast. It was fine to begin quick since we had a hill up ahead and a lot of hills in general. I came in the first mile at 9:45. Our goal pace was 9:55. That was pretty good.
The first hill when up through Lehigh's campus. Like most of the hills on this course, it was short and wasn't too steep. One guy told us he ran the Big Sur Marathon, so this was nothing. This course is meant to be a scenic race through a historic medium sized city, not a PR course.
After going uphill, it was back downhill and then more turning. That's how most of the course was. A lot of winding around and short climbs and drops. We crossed over the Fahy Bridge and had a wonderfully cool breeze. We settled into a nice and consistent pace. Since I'm inexperienced, I was a little worried that we might be going too fast. A few seconds too fast and it is just too much for some people, especially with the hills. I let Ingrid lead the way. As always, I was checking my watch way too much.
After crossing the Fahy Bridge, it was on to the cool section of the course. This takes you through the historic area and then the quaint shops of Main Street. The first water stop was around here. We went through it and Ingrid took water, but I didn't. I only drank once on the course. I can run a half without anything to drink. I will refuel a little more in my goal race.
Main Street isn't steep, but it a gradual hill. After going up it and then turning, we dropped back down again. For a short stretch here, it is kind of industrial. At this point, Ingrid asked who around us had traveled for this race. Just within our little group, we had two people from Texas, one from Florida and I think others from North Carolina and Minnesota. They said that people had traveled into town for this race, but I figured it would just be a person here or there. I really didn't think this many people would come from out of town. I guess that's the power of Runner's World. Every other race around here is much, much more local. This looks like it will be a nice little destination race for years to come.
Ingrid asked a lot of different questions to the folks with us. She was cheering at time, giving instructions and often encouraging the runners around us. I was a little more quiet, just chatting with some of the people as well as Ingrid. I had to watch and make sure I didn't get too talkative though or I might've lost focus on the pace. I need to say more to the group if I pace future races.
After the industrial section, we climbed up to Schoenersville Road. This was the toughest section of the course without question. The first hill of this part was steep, but short. The main part of Schoenersville wasn't steep, but it was a gradual uphill. It was quite long. I felt bad because I told people that none of the hills were too steep or too long. This one was definitely long and some people started dropping.
We turned onto Illick's Mill Road. There was a slight break at this point. This was the only time I took anything to drink. I tried drinking some Gatorade. I didn't drink too much. I didn't need a lot though. With this easy pace, I was feeling alright. I was sweating, so I needed some fluids. I wasn't breathing hard at all or really working. I was just cruising along.
Our pace was quite solid at this point. We were clicking off pretty consistent laps. They were somewhere in the neighborhood of 9:45. We were probably about 45 seconds or so ahead of pace. We had a decent amount of people with us, but it wasn't crowded. Other pacers said that mile 4 wasn't placed right on the course, but I didn't notice. Now that I see that that pace was 10:00, that is probably right. Part of it was definitely the hills though. We did slow the pace through that section.
I wanted my dad to come and take a couple pictures of me. He said he wasn't going to go to watch me pace. I had told him that he could get to this area north of town quite easy. I was just about to tell the group how he wasn't coming, then he appeared along Illick's Mill Road with a camera. I didn't notice the crowd too much, so I'm surprised I saw him. Since I didn't think he was coming, I had my camera. He had to use his crappy one. I saw him and my mom by Bethlehem Catholic High School and then I saw him again at Moravian College. It was good to see them there, even if it wasn't a serious race.
The hill up Illick's Mill was certainly tough. More people dropped off here. After that, we went through a nice little neighborhood. There were a few people out in their yards cheering us on. That was cool. The road was narrow at one section and some people began walking or slowing at that point. It was tough to get by them.
As we headed out of the neighborhood towards Center Street, we could see the runners behind us. This is a rare spot where you see other runners besides the ones directly behind or ahead of you. April yelled to me as she was in the other section. I waved back to her. She just set a 5K PR and was cruising around the half marathon.
On Center Street was one of the best spectators that I saw all day. This little girl that could barely say much had a sign that said, "Go Runners Go" and she kept yelling the same thing. It was cute. I joked that those were her first words. It was impressive how solid the crowd was for this event.
In this area, my pacer band on my wrist began to tear. It was just a piece of paper. I probably should've taped it all around to make it stronger. It was a little tough to read. What I could salvage of it, I taped to my pacer sign. Ingrid is a veteran and she did that all day.
Dewberry Street, in front of Beca, was a gradual uphill. This was actually the only tough section for me. Most of the race had a lot of shade, either from buildings or trees, or it had wind. This section had neither and suddenly I was getting hot. I thought maybe I would struggle for the rest of the run. I felt much better after this stretch though.
After going through another neighborhood, it was on to Washington Avenue. That was an awesome gradual downhill. It is near the great downhill part of the Freedom to Liberty run that I did so well in back in June.
Somewhere towards the end, my IT band bothered me slightly. I was a little worried because when that happens, I feel better if I run faster. I didn't have that option today though. Thankfully, it went away. I felt pretty good all run. I found that I was running up on my toes a lot at this slow point, so I tried to mix up my form a little throughout the run. I didn't want to stress anything too much.
We turned down Main Street and through Moravian College. Their field hockey team had to wait for us to cross the street. I asked them if they wanted to run with us before practice. Then I saw that they had a bus, so I guess is was an away game. If they had to travel, then not running the race was acceptable in my book.
The course then turns onto Fairview. I thought this was the tough uphill near the end, but it was actually on New Street. That hill was hard and spit out a lot of the runners. Still no big deal at my pace, but it would've been hard if I was pushing it. After this, it was nice as it was basically all downhill.
We ended up catching a lot of folks who were struggling as we turned onto Market Street. Some said they were wondering where we were. Other people were doing well and cruised well ahead of us once we started going downhill. Coming down from Church Street to the Fahy Bridge, a lot of people went by us. That was good to see. We tried to made sure to keep going slowly.
On the Fahy Bridge, Joe ran by us. Apparently he knows both Ingrid and I. It was good to see him cruise on by. Ingrid had to tie her shoe on the bridge and then catch back up to me. I told her that if it was that late in the race, I would've just run without it tied.
We had slowed our pace slightly, but were still around 40 seconds or ahead of pace. We were supposed to come in under 30 seconds under goal pace, so that was perfect. Going around the Bethlehem Steel complex to finish was all flat.
We kept going and going and at one point, I asked Ingrid if we got to the Mile 12 marker yet. She said she didn't see it either. We should've been at it by that point. Throughout the run, my watch was very, very close to the actual race distance at the mile markers. At most, it was around .05 miles off. Now, I was well beyond that. Finally, we hit the mile 12 marker. My watch said, 12.20 miles.
Up until this point, we were almost perfect on our pace plan. With this screw up, we started to get worried. If we had another mile to go, it would've been very close to goal pace. Shortly after the 12 mile marker, my watch was at 2 hours flat. We would only have seconds to spare at best if the last mile or so was accurate.
Because we were worried, Ingrid and I picked it up. There isn't a more important mile marker than mile 12 for us pacers. We needed that one to be accurate and it wasn't. I tried to stay on the outside, so that runners could pass us if they were feeling good in this final mile.
We went around the Sands and had about 5 minutes to go. I knew we were doing okay at that point. We went between a couple of the old buildings and were on the final stretch. The run finished up just after the flaming arch at the SteelStacks complex. Race Director, Bart Yasso of Runner's World, was there at the finish announcing. The finish area was crowded with spectators. It was so loud there when combined with the buildings. That might be the loudest finish I've ever gone through. That would've been a huge lift it was running hard at the end and not cruising.
It felt weird to not sprint finish. Ingrid and I crossed the line together. Officially, our time was 2:09:22. We couldn't get much closer to our goal that than. Having an experienced pacer like Ingrid was a huge help. I wouldn't have been that close on my own. It was good to bounce our times of our watches off of each other. Since we started a minute late, our clock time was off by about a minute from our chip time. Chip time is what we were shooting for though.
The finishing area was so crowded that it was hard to find anyone. I ran into the pace leader, Chris and a bunch of the other pacers. We talked about that one mile at the end being too long. I saw Kelley and her dad. They finished behind me, but did well. I'm so jealous that she gets to run with her dad. I saw Gary from the BCR and he achieved his time goal. Joe, who we saw at the end of the race, was right around what he expected. It was a long way back to the car, so I started running. Then I passed Tom and Sarah from the BCR. Tom has been racing like crazy lately, but with Sarah's help, he ran a new half marathon PR. He came in at 1:38 something. He never broke 1:40 before. I also ran into Lauren, who coaches the Nazareth cross country team. I'm glad to see that everyone did so well.
This race was a lot of fun. Sometimes it is nice to slow down. I wasn't sore at all afterward. Now, I'm just a little stiff. It is nothing too bad. I took a rare two complete days off before the race and that was big help to my quads. They really weren't sore at all at the beginning of the race. If I have to take off some more time to rest them before my real half, at least I know it is helpful.
All around this was a great weekend and a great race. This is already the premier running event in the Lehigh Valley and I assume it will only get bigger. I was so grateful to be a pacer. I got to run a couple races for free and mostly importantly interact with fellow like minded crazy runners. Seeing the seminars, getting a free meal and a free Garmin watch were all a nice bonus. If it fits into my schedule, I will definitely pace again. It is nice to just enjoy the run every now and then and not be so competitive. I finished in 1863rd place overall and don't think I ever had more fun. Of course, I'm still going to run serious, but this was a nice change up.
I didn't think about it during the race, but this race was special to me for another reason. My grandfather came over to this country from Europe and worked many long and hard hours at Bethlehem Steel to help build this country. I have a lot of respect for those guys back in that day. It is assume what the steel became, but at least they've made good use of the area now.
The leaves are changing around here and are a multitude of different colors in the Poconos. My dad is taking off tomorrow, so I want to hike up at the Delaware Water Gap. There is an awesome view if you hike the New Jersey side and with all the different colors now, it will be spectacular. That's another one of the great perks about living around here. I may or may not run up there, depending on how I feel. If I run, it will likely be just 3 or 4 easy miles on the McDade Trail. I look forward to a great final two more weeks before my goal race.
13.21 miles - 2:09:23 (9:48 pace)
Saturday night continued the entertainment. I was back from the funeral in time for the pasta dinner. I got there earlier than some of the other pacers, so I just sat with a random group of people. Kelley's dad actually ended up sitting at my table. He had forgotten that I met him the day before. I talked with a bunch of the other people at the table as well as him. One of them was local, but another was from New Hampshire and yet another was from Florida. That was kind of the theme of the weekend. With all the races going on and the speakers that Runner's World had setup, they truly made this an event.
I sat with the pacers a little bit at the dinner too. We discussed some strategy and other things. We killed time until seeing Matt Long speak. He survived getting run over by a bus. He came back and ran a marathon and completed an Ironman. Even though my post surgery wasn't anywhere near what he went through. I can certainly relate to him in a lot of areas of recovery. The hospital stay was tough and I was depressed for months.
Sunday was the feature race. The Runner's World Half Marathon. I chose to run the D&L Half Marathon in a couple weeks as my goal race because it is flatter and cheaper. Thankfully, my friend Laurie told me that more pacers were needed for this race. I signed up to pace the 2:10 group. I knew that would be fun and also a challenge.
I'm shooting for running around a 1:30 half marathon in two weeks. My training runs are fairly comfortable and I usually run about 1:45 in those for the half marathon distance. This was definitely a slower distance that I'm used to. We had two pacers, so that was a huge help.
Ingrid, who I didn't meet until this weekend, was the other pacer. She is experienced in doing this, so I followed her lead. Going between the parking area, bathrooms and start line was somewhat of a pain before the race, but I managed. We had to meet early to get a photo of all the pacers together at the starting line. Olympic Marathoner Shalane Flanagan was there all weekend to meet people and sign autographs. She decided to run the race as a training run. Some training run, as she was still the 2nd place female. Since she was running, she got into the photo with the pacers. That was cool.
Ingrid and I then lined up near our starting position. They didn't have corral starts, but they still made signs showing the goal paces. Kelley and her dad happened to be starting near me. It was good to see them. They made matching shirts to run together with. Her dad hasn't run more than 5Ks lately, so it was impressive to see him running with her. I ended up answering a lot of questions about pacing at the start. Mainly, people wanted to know if we were running through the water stations or not. We weren't ever planning on stopping, just slowing a bit maybe.The weather and wind made dressing a little tricky. I knew that the arm sleeves would be a bit much when running, but I felt that they would be needed while standing around. Maybe I should've worn a junk sweatshirt to throw away.
We started off on time. Since we were so far back, we didn't cross the starting line until over a minute after the clock started. This was actually a perfect sized race. It was big, the biggest in Lehigh Valley, but not as crazy as an overcrowded big city race. As a pacer, I was kind of concerned that it might get crowded around us in the beginning, but it wasn't too bad.
The start is downhill in front of Bethlehem Steel. With the excitement of the race, we went out a little fast. It was fine to begin quick since we had a hill up ahead and a lot of hills in general. I came in the first mile at 9:45. Our goal pace was 9:55. That was pretty good.
The first hill when up through Lehigh's campus. Like most of the hills on this course, it was short and wasn't too steep. One guy told us he ran the Big Sur Marathon, so this was nothing. This course is meant to be a scenic race through a historic medium sized city, not a PR course.
After going uphill, it was back downhill and then more turning. That's how most of the course was. A lot of winding around and short climbs and drops. We crossed over the Fahy Bridge and had a wonderfully cool breeze. We settled into a nice and consistent pace. Since I'm inexperienced, I was a little worried that we might be going too fast. A few seconds too fast and it is just too much for some people, especially with the hills. I let Ingrid lead the way. As always, I was checking my watch way too much.
After crossing the Fahy Bridge, it was on to the cool section of the course. This takes you through the historic area and then the quaint shops of Main Street. The first water stop was around here. We went through it and Ingrid took water, but I didn't. I only drank once on the course. I can run a half without anything to drink. I will refuel a little more in my goal race.
Main Street isn't steep, but it a gradual hill. After going up it and then turning, we dropped back down again. For a short stretch here, it is kind of industrial. At this point, Ingrid asked who around us had traveled for this race. Just within our little group, we had two people from Texas, one from Florida and I think others from North Carolina and Minnesota. They said that people had traveled into town for this race, but I figured it would just be a person here or there. I really didn't think this many people would come from out of town. I guess that's the power of Runner's World. Every other race around here is much, much more local. This looks like it will be a nice little destination race for years to come.
Ingrid asked a lot of different questions to the folks with us. She was cheering at time, giving instructions and often encouraging the runners around us. I was a little more quiet, just chatting with some of the people as well as Ingrid. I had to watch and make sure I didn't get too talkative though or I might've lost focus on the pace. I need to say more to the group if I pace future races.
After the industrial section, we climbed up to Schoenersville Road. This was the toughest section of the course without question. The first hill of this part was steep, but short. The main part of Schoenersville wasn't steep, but it was a gradual uphill. It was quite long. I felt bad because I told people that none of the hills were too steep or too long. This one was definitely long and some people started dropping.
We turned onto Illick's Mill Road. There was a slight break at this point. This was the only time I took anything to drink. I tried drinking some Gatorade. I didn't drink too much. I didn't need a lot though. With this easy pace, I was feeling alright. I was sweating, so I needed some fluids. I wasn't breathing hard at all or really working. I was just cruising along.
Our pace was quite solid at this point. We were clicking off pretty consistent laps. They were somewhere in the neighborhood of 9:45. We were probably about 45 seconds or so ahead of pace. We had a decent amount of people with us, but it wasn't crowded. Other pacers said that mile 4 wasn't placed right on the course, but I didn't notice. Now that I see that that pace was 10:00, that is probably right. Part of it was definitely the hills though. We did slow the pace through that section.
I wanted my dad to come and take a couple pictures of me. He said he wasn't going to go to watch me pace. I had told him that he could get to this area north of town quite easy. I was just about to tell the group how he wasn't coming, then he appeared along Illick's Mill Road with a camera. I didn't notice the crowd too much, so I'm surprised I saw him. Since I didn't think he was coming, I had my camera. He had to use his crappy one. I saw him and my mom by Bethlehem Catholic High School and then I saw him again at Moravian College. It was good to see them there, even if it wasn't a serious race.
The hill up Illick's Mill was certainly tough. More people dropped off here. After that, we went through a nice little neighborhood. There were a few people out in their yards cheering us on. That was cool. The road was narrow at one section and some people began walking or slowing at that point. It was tough to get by them.As we headed out of the neighborhood towards Center Street, we could see the runners behind us. This is a rare spot where you see other runners besides the ones directly behind or ahead of you. April yelled to me as she was in the other section. I waved back to her. She just set a 5K PR and was cruising around the half marathon.
On Center Street was one of the best spectators that I saw all day. This little girl that could barely say much had a sign that said, "Go Runners Go" and she kept yelling the same thing. It was cute. I joked that those were her first words. It was impressive how solid the crowd was for this event.
In this area, my pacer band on my wrist began to tear. It was just a piece of paper. I probably should've taped it all around to make it stronger. It was a little tough to read. What I could salvage of it, I taped to my pacer sign. Ingrid is a veteran and she did that all day.
Dewberry Street, in front of Beca, was a gradual uphill. This was actually the only tough section for me. Most of the race had a lot of shade, either from buildings or trees, or it had wind. This section had neither and suddenly I was getting hot. I thought maybe I would struggle for the rest of the run. I felt much better after this stretch though.
After going through another neighborhood, it was on to Washington Avenue. That was an awesome gradual downhill. It is near the great downhill part of the Freedom to Liberty run that I did so well in back in June.
Somewhere towards the end, my IT band bothered me slightly. I was a little worried because when that happens, I feel better if I run faster. I didn't have that option today though. Thankfully, it went away. I felt pretty good all run. I found that I was running up on my toes a lot at this slow point, so I tried to mix up my form a little throughout the run. I didn't want to stress anything too much.
We turned down Main Street and through Moravian College. Their field hockey team had to wait for us to cross the street. I asked them if they wanted to run with us before practice. Then I saw that they had a bus, so I guess is was an away game. If they had to travel, then not running the race was acceptable in my book.
We ended up catching a lot of folks who were struggling as we turned onto Market Street. Some said they were wondering where we were. Other people were doing well and cruised well ahead of us once we started going downhill. Coming down from Church Street to the Fahy Bridge, a lot of people went by us. That was good to see. We tried to made sure to keep going slowly.
On the Fahy Bridge, Joe ran by us. Apparently he knows both Ingrid and I. It was good to see him cruise on by. Ingrid had to tie her shoe on the bridge and then catch back up to me. I told her that if it was that late in the race, I would've just run without it tied.
We had slowed our pace slightly, but were still around 40 seconds or ahead of pace. We were supposed to come in under 30 seconds under goal pace, so that was perfect. Going around the Bethlehem Steel complex to finish was all flat.
We kept going and going and at one point, I asked Ingrid if we got to the Mile 12 marker yet. She said she didn't see it either. We should've been at it by that point. Throughout the run, my watch was very, very close to the actual race distance at the mile markers. At most, it was around .05 miles off. Now, I was well beyond that. Finally, we hit the mile 12 marker. My watch said, 12.20 miles.
Up until this point, we were almost perfect on our pace plan. With this screw up, we started to get worried. If we had another mile to go, it would've been very close to goal pace. Shortly after the 12 mile marker, my watch was at 2 hours flat. We would only have seconds to spare at best if the last mile or so was accurate.
Because we were worried, Ingrid and I picked it up. There isn't a more important mile marker than mile 12 for us pacers. We needed that one to be accurate and it wasn't. I tried to stay on the outside, so that runners could pass us if they were feeling good in this final mile.
We went around the Sands and had about 5 minutes to go. I knew we were doing okay at that point. We went between a couple of the old buildings and were on the final stretch. The run finished up just after the flaming arch at the SteelStacks complex. Race Director, Bart Yasso of Runner's World, was there at the finish announcing. The finish area was crowded with spectators. It was so loud there when combined with the buildings. That might be the loudest finish I've ever gone through. That would've been a huge lift it was running hard at the end and not cruising.
It felt weird to not sprint finish. Ingrid and I crossed the line together. Officially, our time was 2:09:22. We couldn't get much closer to our goal that than. Having an experienced pacer like Ingrid was a huge help. I wouldn't have been that close on my own. It was good to bounce our times of our watches off of each other. Since we started a minute late, our clock time was off by about a minute from our chip time. Chip time is what we were shooting for though.
This race was a lot of fun. Sometimes it is nice to slow down. I wasn't sore at all afterward. Now, I'm just a little stiff. It is nothing too bad. I took a rare two complete days off before the race and that was big help to my quads. They really weren't sore at all at the beginning of the race. If I have to take off some more time to rest them before my real half, at least I know it is helpful.
All around this was a great weekend and a great race. This is already the premier running event in the Lehigh Valley and I assume it will only get bigger. I was so grateful to be a pacer. I got to run a couple races for free and mostly importantly interact with fellow like minded crazy runners. Seeing the seminars, getting a free meal and a free Garmin watch were all a nice bonus. If it fits into my schedule, I will definitely pace again. It is nice to just enjoy the run every now and then and not be so competitive. I finished in 1863rd place overall and don't think I ever had more fun. Of course, I'm still going to run serious, but this was a nice change up.
I didn't think about it during the race, but this race was special to me for another reason. My grandfather came over to this country from Europe and worked many long and hard hours at Bethlehem Steel to help build this country. I have a lot of respect for those guys back in that day. It is assume what the steel became, but at least they've made good use of the area now.
The leaves are changing around here and are a multitude of different colors in the Poconos. My dad is taking off tomorrow, so I want to hike up at the Delaware Water Gap. There is an awesome view if you hike the New Jersey side and with all the different colors now, it will be spectacular. That's another one of the great perks about living around here. I may or may not run up there, depending on how I feel. If I run, it will likely be just 3 or 4 easy miles on the McDade Trail. I look forward to a great final two more weeks before my goal race.
13.21 miles - 2:09:23 (9:48 pace)
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Alone on the Group Run
I can definitely tell we are getting closer and closer to winter. Our Thursday night LVRR Group Runs have never been strong, but they keep getting weaker and weaker. Last week, it was just the two group run leaders, Akshay and I, plus Tim who leads the Sunday runs. Today, it was only me.
I waited and waited and waited, but no one else showed up. A woman pulled up and ran alone. A group of three guys got out of the car and ran together. Our group runs were light last year, but I don't think I ever had to run alone. I know it was just Akshay and I one time. I'm used to running alone, but it was depressing doing so on a day when I planned to have company.
It's still light out when the run starts, but it is getting dark quickly. It is a shame that no one came out because the weather was beautiful. The colorful tree leaves provided a nice background while it was still light.
Before I started out, I saw my friend Tim (not the same one as above). He was running with someone else. I should've told him to loop around and that I would join him if no one else showed. I'm not feeling so strong and he's pretty fast, so that probably wouldn't have been a great idea anyway. I certainly didn't want to go hard today.
I was actually looking forward to the run. I was hoping at least one of the slower people that usual comes would show up. I wanted some pacing practice for my upcoming half marathon.
I decided that rather than run my normal pace, I would attempt running at the pace for the half on Sunday. Usually I run about an 8:22 pace. For the half, I'll need to run a 9:55. I have run even slower in the past on these group runs, but it still takes some getting used to. In those runs, like the race, I'll have others around me going slow.
My legs feel awful as I started out. It was like I was barely moving. At one point around half a mile, I saw that my pace was around 11:00. I couldn't believe I could even run that slow at all. Once my legs warmed up, I ended up going a little faster. In this early stretch, I saw a kid running alone. I've never seen someone that young by themselves before. He couldn't have been over 12 years old.
Whenever I would start to speed up a little, I would tell myself it is time to slow down. Staying consistent over the hills was a bit tough. I love plowing up hills, so it was very hard for me to go up them slowly. I managed to though. My first mile came in at 10:08. Not too bad of a start.
The second mile was very flat and I went way too fast. It felt quite easy, but it was still 9:32. By the end of those two miles, I was close to goal pace with a 9:48 overall.
Although I looked at my watch a lot to check my pace, I didn't find it as boring as I usually do. I was so focused on nailing my marks. That really kept my concentration.
Getting up the long hill near the Fish Hatchery was tricky. I tried to go up it easy. I was fairly successful. Usually when I've gone up it slowly, I've struggled. Maybe that was just due to the heat of the summer, because today wasn't difficult.
I came down the hill nice and easy too. I passed a lady would was running with two dogs. After the hill, it is flat and I sputtered along. When I've run over a 10:00 pace in the past, it almost felt like I was walking. Today, it was very slow, but at least kind of felt like a jog. I came through this 3rd mile at a 9:47 pace. That was nice a solid.
I bumped into Tim coming this way and he told me that another friend, Aaron had some health issues. Good to hear he is back running though. He's come to the group runs in the past and really pulled me along.
Again, the hills messed with me on mile 4. They slowed me up just enough that I was at a 10:00 mile again. Overall though, my pace was close to target at this point. It was getting tricky at this point because it was almost pitch black. I couldn't see my watch without lighting it up.
The last mile is flat and again I was too fast early on. I kept having to tell myself to back it down. It worked this time, as I came through at 9:47. Overall, my pace ending up being 9:51. That's very close to my target of 9:55.
Maintaining pace with the hills thrown in was a little challenging. I'll probably need to run this way during the race anyway, to account for people who normally run like this. The other big challenge of the run will be the curves. Not running tangents always causes me to run additional distance. Running a 9:51 pace by my watch's standards might be right around a 9:55 actual race pace. It's something to really keep in mind. I have to pay attention to the mile markers on the course, not just my watch.
I'm surprised that my quads were still sore even after this easy outing. I guess they really need some full rest. I'm just going to give them the next two days off before the race. Maybe that will help. I know I pushed them too far, so I can't complain too much. It would just be nice if they would come back around for my half marathon in the beginning of November. Although I can still run fast because they don't bother me much while running, I'd like to think I could be a lot faster if they would start feeling better.
5 miles - 49:16 (9:51 pace)
I waited and waited and waited, but no one else showed up. A woman pulled up and ran alone. A group of three guys got out of the car and ran together. Our group runs were light last year, but I don't think I ever had to run alone. I know it was just Akshay and I one time. I'm used to running alone, but it was depressing doing so on a day when I planned to have company.
It's still light out when the run starts, but it is getting dark quickly. It is a shame that no one came out because the weather was beautiful. The colorful tree leaves provided a nice background while it was still light.
Before I started out, I saw my friend Tim (not the same one as above). He was running with someone else. I should've told him to loop around and that I would join him if no one else showed. I'm not feeling so strong and he's pretty fast, so that probably wouldn't have been a great idea anyway. I certainly didn't want to go hard today.
I was actually looking forward to the run. I was hoping at least one of the slower people that usual comes would show up. I wanted some pacing practice for my upcoming half marathon.
I decided that rather than run my normal pace, I would attempt running at the pace for the half on Sunday. Usually I run about an 8:22 pace. For the half, I'll need to run a 9:55. I have run even slower in the past on these group runs, but it still takes some getting used to. In those runs, like the race, I'll have others around me going slow.
My legs feel awful as I started out. It was like I was barely moving. At one point around half a mile, I saw that my pace was around 11:00. I couldn't believe I could even run that slow at all. Once my legs warmed up, I ended up going a little faster. In this early stretch, I saw a kid running alone. I've never seen someone that young by themselves before. He couldn't have been over 12 years old.
Whenever I would start to speed up a little, I would tell myself it is time to slow down. Staying consistent over the hills was a bit tough. I love plowing up hills, so it was very hard for me to go up them slowly. I managed to though. My first mile came in at 10:08. Not too bad of a start.
The second mile was very flat and I went way too fast. It felt quite easy, but it was still 9:32. By the end of those two miles, I was close to goal pace with a 9:48 overall.
Although I looked at my watch a lot to check my pace, I didn't find it as boring as I usually do. I was so focused on nailing my marks. That really kept my concentration.
Getting up the long hill near the Fish Hatchery was tricky. I tried to go up it easy. I was fairly successful. Usually when I've gone up it slowly, I've struggled. Maybe that was just due to the heat of the summer, because today wasn't difficult.
I came down the hill nice and easy too. I passed a lady would was running with two dogs. After the hill, it is flat and I sputtered along. When I've run over a 10:00 pace in the past, it almost felt like I was walking. Today, it was very slow, but at least kind of felt like a jog. I came through this 3rd mile at a 9:47 pace. That was nice a solid.
I bumped into Tim coming this way and he told me that another friend, Aaron had some health issues. Good to hear he is back running though. He's come to the group runs in the past and really pulled me along.
Again, the hills messed with me on mile 4. They slowed me up just enough that I was at a 10:00 mile again. Overall though, my pace was close to target at this point. It was getting tricky at this point because it was almost pitch black. I couldn't see my watch without lighting it up.
The last mile is flat and again I was too fast early on. I kept having to tell myself to back it down. It worked this time, as I came through at 9:47. Overall, my pace ending up being 9:51. That's very close to my target of 9:55.
Maintaining pace with the hills thrown in was a little challenging. I'll probably need to run this way during the race anyway, to account for people who normally run like this. The other big challenge of the run will be the curves. Not running tangents always causes me to run additional distance. Running a 9:51 pace by my watch's standards might be right around a 9:55 actual race pace. It's something to really keep in mind. I have to pay attention to the mile markers on the course, not just my watch.
I'm surprised that my quads were still sore even after this easy outing. I guess they really need some full rest. I'm just going to give them the next two days off before the race. Maybe that will help. I know I pushed them too far, so I can't complain too much. It would just be nice if they would come back around for my half marathon in the beginning of November. Although I can still run fast because they don't bother me much while running, I'd like to think I could be a lot faster if they would start feeling better.
5 miles - 49:16 (9:51 pace)
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