I'm sure everybody is tired of hearing about how my tempo runs suck, but what can I do?

On Wednesday, in cold (33 F), light snow, I ran my worst tempo since the LSC half. 4 miles fast with splits of 6:22, 6:31, 6:27, 6:36. As you can see, by mile 4, I was done for. Average of 6:29/mile. It's time to admit that I can't run 6:20 paced tempos just now. So next week, I'll slow it down to run the first two miles at 6:30, and only accelerate if I can in the last two miles.

There are many plausible explanations why I'm slowing. For one, I'm increasing mileage. Also, it is getting colder, darker, and it is hard to run in the winter due to seasonal changes in human metabolism. It could also be partly mental. I can run mile 1 in 6:20 and feel fine, but then when fatigue starts to take over, I may lack the mental strength to push through it. Anyway, considering that a year ago I had trouble running sub-7 miles at this phase of my training, I think I'm OK.

Sorry for the changed appearance. Google essentially forced this out of me. With my old template the website started to throw error messages at me every time I tried to post.

I ran my weekly tempo today. It didn't go very well. I think I'm not ready to run this fast. I tried 6:20-6:25 pace, and at the end, I did finish 4 miles at average of 6:24 or so, but my paces were all over the place, and for mile four I felt like crap. Oh, well. I guess the same was true last winter. Reading back my blog I see myself complaining that I can't run faster than 6:50 pace for the 4-mile tempos. Maybe next winter I would complain that I can't run sub-6 tempos. :)

I will keep trying for 6:20-6:25. I should be running the 6:20 by January.

OK, here is how today went: I went to the group trail run, but nobody was there (I was 5 minutes late, so maybe they left, though that would be surprising given that they knew I was coming). I decided to do my 4 mile tempo. But I was sort of unprepared, it was dark and cold, and I just didn't have the will to run fast beyond mile 2. And my right shoelace was kind of loose. So I stopped, tied my shoe, ran 3:30 recovery and then 2 more miles fast. Even in the intervals I wasn't very fast, and the worse is that I was gradually slowing during both of my intervals. So I'm officially in a rut.

It does look like I hit this place every November-December. It may be seasonal. I'm not too worried still. My splits were still OK, I still ran some decent LT workout today. My ankle is not really better, but at least it's also not worse.

Mon, ~6 miles in my bricks.

It looks like I'm getting slower every week. Today it took me 22:27 to run the 3.5 miles, which is 6:24.85 pace. It is still not terrible, and I did *not* go over 6:25, so by my statement of last week, I can't be upset. But I'm very close to being upset... Why am I getting slower every week is a puzzle. Is it the winter slump? Too much stress in real life? We'll see... next week I'll try 4 miles.

Tempo today was not as great as last week, but was still OK. Splits are 3:05, 3:19, 3:16, 3:06, 3:05, 3:15, 3:11. Total time was 22:17.98 for 3.5 miles, 6:22.28 pace. Last week it was 22:09.61, or 6:19.89 pace. Looking at the general paces, it does look like I'm more fatigued this week, which is probably true. Less sleep, colder temps, real life. This pace is still fine, I just don't want to go over 6:25.

The plan goes perfectly, survived even Thanksgiving. I did not run on Sunday though, so I'll be running 6 days in a row for sure, and if all goes well, add the other 6 next week starting on Sunday.

Most remarkably I ran a great tempo run last Tuesday. The middle, fast part was 3.5 miles with the following half mile splits: 3:02, 3:14, 3:11, 3:12, 3:09, 3:14, 3:08. I was aiming for 6:20 miles (3:10 splits).

I will actually have to be careful not to work out too hard. During Thanksgiving, I did a run on the beach in North Myrtle Beach with a few friends. After some slowish initial miles, I apologized to them and took off. Then I did the last 1.5 miles at sub-7 pace, and it didn't feel that hard. That is almost scary...

Another nice piece of news: I got a letter from the LSC Half Marathon organizers stating that I received a $50 gift certificate for placing 2nd in my age group in the race. Nice! I now turned professional, making money of my running. :)

Slightly revised plans follow. I'll have two buffer weeks at the end of the buildup, in case I run Indianapolis, and one buffer week in case I run the Derby Mini (looks unlikely now - will travel to a conference).

Week of 11/11: 5 easy runs of 4 miles each, no slower than 8:00; one long run of 7 miles. Total of 27 miles.

Week of 11/18: One easy run is switched out to a 5.5 mile tempo: 1 mile warmup, 3.5 miles at tempo pace (6:20, but a little slower is fine), then 1 mile cooldown. Increase long run to 8 miles. Total of 29.5 miles.

Week of 11/25: Total of 32 miles, including 8 mile long run, 5.5 mile tempo (as above), and easy runs of 4.63 miles each.

Week of 12/2: Total of 35 miles, including 9 mile long, same tempo (but do try to hit the 6:20 pace), easy runs of 5.13 miles.

Week of 12/9: Total of 39 miles, including 10 mile long, 6 mile tempo (1 - 4 - 1), and 5.75 mile easy runs.

Week of 12/16: Total of 43 miles, including 11 mile long, 7 mile tempo (1.5 - 4 - 1.5) and 6.25 mile easy runs.

Week of 12/23: Total of 47 miles, including 12 mile long, 7 mile tempo and 7 mile easy runs.

Week of 12/30: Total of 50 miles, including 13.1 mile long, 8 mile tempo (2 - 4 - 2) and 7.23 mile easy runs.

Week of 1/6, and 1/13: Repeat the last week. These two weeks will also serve as buffer if I ever have to repeat a buildup week. Note that in case I run the Derby Mini, there is only one buffer week.

Louisville Sports Commission Half Marathon Race Report

Goal: better than 1:27:11. Secondary goal: sub-1:30.

I ran this race as a member of the University of Louisville Corporate Team, so I could not risk completely bumming the race. I decided to go out at my PR pace, to give myself a chance to PR, and see it from there. My PR was run this spring on perfect training on a pancake flat course. This time, my training was much worse, and there were a few hard hills on the course. Here is the elevation profile:

We woke up to a cold morning with temperature of about 36 degrees. After my usual pre-race rituals (breakfast, coffee, etc.) I drove to the race, where I found a cheap parking spot really close to the start line. We met up with the team before the race, but we were all freezing, so we just got a quick picture together, and then went on to the start area.

I saw a bunch of people wearing only T-shirt or even singlet, but I decided to go with long sleeves. After the warmup, while standing in the start area, I sort of regretted it, because it was nice and cozy there, but it was too late to change the setup. In retrospect I'm happy that it was too late, because I needed those long sleeves.

There were about 2000 runners, but people seemed very reasonable here, and slow people didn't try to line up close to the start line. At exactly 8:30, after a countdown, we were off.

The race started with a long straight flat street, and we had the first mile split there. I knew I went out faster than I wanted to, but it was hard to control my excitement. I just went with the flow.

Mile 1: 6:26

We took a couple of turns, but it was like the first mile: flat, fast. I felt great, the adrenaline was still pumping hard in me, and the weather was also great. I was not hot, not cold, and the predicted rain didn't arrive.

Mile 2: 6:28

I knew I had to slow down. I just didn't believe I had enough miles in training to do this pace for 13.1 miles. I tried to take it easier. I ran by a couple of spectators in University of Louisville Cardinals gear, and I pulled down my upper layer to reveal my "Cardinal" T-shirt underneath. I got a huge cheer! :)

Mile 3: 6:35

I knew we had one more mile before the three hills of Cherokee Park. We entered the park, but first we ran a flat portion of the road. I saw one of my trail running buddies finishing his Saturday morning trail run in the park (another extra cheer). Unfortunately we also got some sleet/rain/hail here, which wouldn't have been a big deal if that was all for the race. But from here it was raining on and off, and by the end of the race it was just raining, heavy and cold. But let's not jump ahead.

Mile 4: 6:24

(It seems like I was very fast in the previous mile, but it was all downhill.) Right after the marker, the big climb started. Following my predetermined strategy, I slowed down, maintaining just slightly increased effort level uphill. When we got to the top, my Garmin still showed 6:33 or so average pace, and I wasn't sure if I should take it as a good sign (unexpectedly fast pace), or a bad sign (expected blowup at the end).

I had my first drink on the top of this hill. Aid stations were not great at this race. Most aid stations didn't announce who had water and who had Powerade, so you just got what you got. And except for one, they had these awful plastic cups.

Mile 5: 6:57

Hill #2. Not as hard as #1. Before I knew, I was at the top. But the weather was turning bad, and I already started to feel tired, and we weren't even halfway done.

Mile 6: 6:38

Hill #3. Difficulty is the same as #2. We left the park by this time, and people disappeared from around me. I passed a few people in miles 2,3,4 and 5, and I still always saw somebody ahead, but the passing became more and more rare. At least nobody passed me. Drink #2 happened with paper cups (great), but I got water (wanted Powerade).

Mile 7: 6:38

I permanently switched to the faster 2-1 breathing pattern here from 2-2. Mostly downhill, so I got good speed, but I felt my legs getting trashed. My left hip started to hurt, my right leg, too, a bit of soreness in the right ankle... and I started to hate the world. But I told myself, I was only a 10K from the finish.

Mile 8: 6:30

More downhill. Drink #3 (plastic cup, water, half of it on my shirt). No rain at the moment, but I was already wet. I passed a few more people. I started to feel good about a PR, and barring catastrophe, sub-1:30 was in the bag. But I *was* tired.

Mile 9: 6:27

The race was flat from here. I counted back the miles. I was struggling, but pushing myself. I already knew this race was not to be like the spring half marathon where I felt great at the end. I passed more people though.

Mile 10: 6:28

We were going through the working class neighborhood, and the folks were out and very supportive. I passed one more guy right after an aid station (plastic cup, water, some of which went down my windpipe), and then there was a long-long empty space in front of me. The rain was coming down hard, it was getting into my eyes. I started to feel quite cold, especially my hands. My shoes and socks were also soaked.

Mile 11: 6:30

The race started to feel surreal. I was hurting badly. I tried to run with my eyes closed and only open it for one stride out of 3 or 4. I seemed to get closer to the guy in front of me. Yes, he was closer. And then I passed him. I had this interesting disconnect between how I felt and how I ran. I was in a lot of pain and wanted to stop, but I just kept running the same pace. "You only have to endure it for less than 15 minutes." I told myself.

Mile 12: 6:26

I saw the clock at the marker turning 1:18:00, and I realized that with a strong last mile, I can get close to 1:25. My mental math was not quite strong enough to realize how fast would I have to be. So I just pushed, and pushed, and I was dying, and freezing, I couldn't feel my hands, the freezing rain was flowing down on my face, and where the hell is that finish line anyway?! It was a straight road for the whole mile leading up to the finish, but due to the heavy rain, the visibility was so bad that I didn't see it until I was very close.

Mile 13: 6:14

I really want to see those finish line photos. I was done for. I ran my heart out.

Last portion: 0:39 (roughly 6 min/mile pace)
Total time: 1:25:18
23th overall out of 2143, 2nd in my age group, but age group awards were not given.

Our team got 3rd place in the Corporate Challenge with me running our fastest time. This is a great result.

I'm overjoyed with the race. I couldn't have run any faster today. Running an almost 2 minute PR with the circumstances is great. But I will still focus on a spring half marathon to run an official sub-1:25 before going on to my sub-3 hour marathon journey.

The post race party was a bit lame with a goofy pop-rock band (Bon Jovi and Toto style) and the rain, but there was pizza and free whiskey for the corporate teams, so it was all good. :)

Leading up to race day, there are tow things to think about. 1. What pace should I go out? 2. What training should I do for the spring HM.

1. 6:39. This would lead to 1:27:18, slightly over my PR. Then I see how I feel. If it feels fine, go into Cherokee Park at that pace, and keep running powerful, but controlled pace (no lactate!). If I can finish the hilly part still maintaining 6:52 average, it's good. Then whatever I can do in the rest.

2. The goal is to be able to start the spring training healthy, no pains, and a very solid base of 50 miles/week.

No running on 11/04. Then whenever I feel like it (but no later than 11/11), start a 30 minutes/day regimen. Pace is unimportant before 11/11.

Week of 11/11: 5 easy runs of 4 miles each, no slower than 8:00; one long run of 7 miles. Total of 27 miles.

Week of 11/18: One easy run is switched out to a 5.5 mile tempo: 1 mile warmup, 3.5 miles at tempo pace (6:30 for now), then 1 mile cooldown. Increase long run to 8 miles. Total of 29.5 miles.

Week of 11/25: Total of 32 miles, including 8 mile long run, 5.5 mile tempo (as above), and easy runs of 4.63 miles each.

Week of 12/2: Total of 35 miles, including 9 mile long, same tempo, easy runs of 5.13 miles.

Week of 12/9: Total of 39 miles, including 10 mile long, 6 mile tempo (1 - 4 - 1), and 5.75 mile easy runs.

Week of 12/16: Total of 43 miles, including 11 mile long, 7 mile tempo (1.5 - 4 - 1.5) and 6.25 mile easy runs.

Week of 12/23: Total of 47 miles, including 12 mile long, 7 mile tempo and 7 mile easy runs.

Week of 12/30: Total of 50 miles, including 13.1 mile long, 8 mile tempo (2 - 4 - 2) and 7.23 mile easy runs.

Week of 1/6: Keep everything but bring up the paces. Ideally, by now, paces would be slightly faster, but if not, that's OK. We have some time to increase pace during the training plan (starting on 1/13), and in fact going through the plan at these paces should also be mostly OK.

Something like:

Monday: 7 miles
Tuesday: 5 miles
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 4 miles
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Race

I've been sick in the last few days with bad stomach bug: high fevers, no energy, and running was completely out of question. This happened with fairly bad timing, because my goal race is next weekend. I haven't run since Wednesday, in particular, missing my last track workout in the weekend.

I'm trying to figure out training for this week, but I think I will just do some easy runs and see what I can do on race days after this mostly imprefect preparation (including my previous traininng issue).

Week of 10/21 (-1):

Total of 49 miles.

Sunday: 5.75 miles recovery (this is done).
Monday: 12 miles at 7:45.
Tuesday: 7.5 miles easy.
Wednesday: 9 miles at 7:45.
Thursday: 7.5 miles easy.
Friday: Rest.
Saturday: 3 x 2000 meters at 8K-10K goal pace. Details: 2 x 2000 m at 7:45 (1:33/lap) with 800 m recovery (in no less than 3:53). Warmup and cooldown are 2.25 miles.

Doug's Run 10 km Race Report

Goal: not sure because of the hills, but thinking 42 minutes.

If you are a runner in Louisville, you certainly know Iroquois Park. A big hill in the middle of the plains, that was no good for farming or building, so the city surrounded it, but they never cut the forest. So we have this beautiful wilderness in town. Also, because it has a 2-mile steady uphill road, it is my favorite place to do my hill workouts. So I knew the course very well, and I must admit, I was very much afraid of it. To get the idea: the race starts at the foot of the hill, it goes up the hill, circles the top (but even that part is not flat), goes down on the same road where we come up, and then circles around the foothills, going through many "small" hills; but let me mention that these small hills used to be part of the KY Derby Half Marathon, and people always complained about the "difficult" hills at the beginning of the course. These are the same hills that are still part of the Papa John's 10 miler that I ran in the spring, and they are not negligible. But today, they were the easy ones.

There was one positive thing I didn't know about: the course had a net elevation loss of just over 10 meters (so it exceeds the allowed 10 meters for record eligible course). My (loose) plan was to run just under 7-minute miles for the first 3 miles, then try to average 6:30 (shouldn't be a problem for flat course) on the next 3, then all out at the end, and finish under 42 minutes (6:45 average).

The temperature was 48 degrees, and the sky was overcast, so it was perfect running weather. The parking lot was a half mile from the start line, so I got my perfect warmup by jogging to the start line, going back to the car to drop off clothes, finding a bathroom, and jogging back to the start line. I lined up in the front row in shorts and my lucky orange T-shirt (and my trusted Kinvara's of course).

At exactly 9:00am they started the race. They did make one mistake though that we only learned later: they forgot to start the clock, so all the finish times were off by about 1:20. It didn't matter during the race, of course. I had my Garmin to check my progress. I jumped out quickly as always, but then I restrained myself and let many people pass. I knew that the hill was long, and I can't kill myself in the first mile. I settled into this ~7 min/mile pace; but with the quick start, my average pace a bit faster.

Mile 1: 6:52

The hill continued into the second mile, and in fact it reached its steepest part. Up the hill I tried to pace off of a guy in a red shirt, but he pulled away on the steep part. I tried to accelerate some in the more flat portions in the second half of this mile, but my legs needed recovery. So I was just content not letting the red T-shirt disappear, and once I recovered by the end of this mile, I started to reel him in.

Mile 2: 6:49

A downhill portion here, and I just got relaxed and fast. I let my leg turnover increase, and when I felt even more recovered, I put in some power. I passed maybe two runners. We had some more serious climbs here (on the top of the hill), and it was hard to maintain control.

Mile 3: 6:17

Finally we were going down. A controlled, strong, downhill effort, but trying not to trash my legs. I think I caught the red T-shirt guy on the bottom of the hill, and I just powered by him. He told me in the finish "I tried to follow you, but man, you were moving!"

Mile 4: 5:58

We got to the foothills with its constant rolling terrain. It doesn't look bad on the elevation chart, but only because the big hill changes the scale. It used to be hard for me to run these in the spring, but I think I got better on hills. I was picking out runners in front of me and passed them, maybe two in this mile.

Mile 5: 6:20

I saw a guy in a white T-shirt maybe a 100 yards ahead, and I remembered that he passed me halfway up the hill. I decided to pull close, but I started get some side stitches, and I felt very tired and squeamish. I still got closer, but very slowly. We hit another incline, and I thought I would throw up. I just arrived up behind the white T-shirt, so I decided to stay on his heel without passing him. But he slowed so much on the hill, that just before the top, I charged out, and left him standing. I propelled down on the other side.

I saw another guy at about 50 or so yards ahead, but he pretty much matched my pace, so I thought I probably wouldn't catch him. Then I saw the 6-mile sign, so I thought: I got to try. Only 0.2 mile left. If I can't pass him, it's OK, but I got to try.

Mile 6: 6:18

I got close to the guy, and I expected him to speed up, but he didn't (or mot much). I passed him, and sprinted to the finish. It was far! 0.2 mile can feel pretty long...

Last portion: 51 seconds. Due to Garmin or course errors, this was certainly less than 0.2 mile, and I think I ran at around 5 minute pace.

Total time: 39:25. The clock showed something like 38:0x, but the main organizer immediately told us that the clock was off by 1:20. The exact time doesn't matter too much, because it was non-certified, non-PR eligible course anyway. It's still plenty hard, so I'm quite happy with the time.

I thought I was pretty well ahead in positions, but I haven't realized until the awards that I got 3rd place overall. I'm especially happy, because looking at the results, the runners behind me followed me only by seconds (like the last one I passed was only 5 seconds behind), but the next one up ahead was a minute away.

With this strong performance in my bag, now I must try for a PR on November 3. I think I will go out at 6:40 pace, and see if I can maintain it. Those three hills on the course don't scare me any more!

I'm running a 10K in the weekend, instead of a time trial. That is great! It is a very hilly one, but it will be good for training, and I'll try to win my age group.

Decent run today: a VO2 max run of 4 x 1600 meters with 800 meter recoveries. The splits were 6:10, 6:17, 6:12, 6:16 (goal pace was 6:16). The bad news is that is was fairly hard, and I made a visit to the paincave in the last interval (I was 2 seconds off of pace at 1200 m and I was already quite tired). It was 72 degrees and a bit windy, and I had to run around people and obstacles on the track because a bunch of mostly very overweight people organized a picnic/football game at the high school track. So the performance isn't so bad after all. No pain, no gain, right? Finished the week with the planned 58 miles.

Week of 10/14 (-2): Total 54 miles.

Long runs: 14 and 10 miles (glad to see these going down)

LT: 10K time trial plus warmup/cooldown: 9 miles total. This will be hard, but I do need it all.

Easy runs: 3 x 7 miles.

Ideally it would be easy on Sunday, 14 miles on Monday, 7 on Tuesday, 10 on Wednesday, 7 on Thursday, Rest on Friday, and the time trial on Saturday. I should introduce Friday as regular rest day, and longest runs early in the week, because race day is approaching fast.

Week -4 is finally success (after many partially or totally failed ones). The icing on the cake is the 10000 meters I ran today in 39:22, with very even splits except for the first and last kilometers, which were faster, as they should be. Here are the kilometer splits: 3:47, 3:57, 4:00, 3:57, 4:00, 3:59, 3:59, 3:59, 3:59, 3:46.

Week -3: Total of 58 miles.

Long runs: 16 and 11 miles.

VO2 max: 4 x 1600 meters. Training plan calls for 1 sec/lap slower than 8K-10K goal pace. If I get ambitious and aim for the low end (8K pace), which is, according to McMillan, (corresponding to 1:27:11), 3:53/km. That is ~93 sec/lap. So the goal pace for this training run would be 94 sec/lap, or 6:16/interval. 800-meter recoveries. With 2 miles of warmup an 2 miles of cooldown, this amounts to 9-9.5 miles.

Easy runs: 7.33 miles.

I do have the occasional good runs, the problem is mostly lack of miles in my training. Like today, I ran 13.88 miles in the 60 degree rains. It was literally raining from beginning to the end of the run. That is 1 hour 43 minutes running in the rain. But that pace is actually quite good: 7:25/mile, and it wasn't all that hard. In fact I feel better than after my (slower) 12-miler last week.

Does it suck to run in the rain? Not so much. There were really only two things for which I wished it didn't rain. Number one is that my hand-drawn map practically fell apart. I was seriously worried that I wouldn't find the (shortest) way back to start, and I really didn't want to make this run 15-16 miles, or walk in the rain for a mile or two. But at the end, holding it in my hands, it lasted just long enough. Number two was the terrible chaffing. Both nipples and my scrotum are sore (I know, TMI). My right nipple bled a nice red line into my white running shirt, and the end of the run was through the crowded campus. I wonder how many people noticed.

There is just no good solution for nipple chaffing. I still hope I can develop callouses. :)

Training is still bad... I don't even like to look at how little I run. Last week was a grad total of 36.5 miles.

Week -4 (starting on 9/30):
Mileage: 56 miles.
Long runs: 13 and 10 miles.
Fast run: 10K race or time trial. Total of ~8 miles.
Easy runs: 8.33 miles.

Tue, 68 F, asics, 12 miles.

I came back from Poland two days ago (haven't run yet), and of course I didn't do enough training. I'll talk to my coach on Wednesday how to change my training to accommodate for this gap in training. The second week was better, so I may be able to resume it with no problem, but I'll let her take a look at what I did and make a decision.

So for now let's pretend that my training has been perfect. Here is the plan for this week.

Week 5, beginning on 9/23: 63 miles.

Long runs: 15 and 12 miles.

VO2 max: 5 x 1200 meters at 2 sec/lap slower than 8K-10K race pace. According to McMillan, 1:27:11 HM corresponds to 3:53/km 8K pace and 3:55/km 10K pace. So my lap pace should be 95-96 seconds. The workout would be as follows: 3200 warmup, 5 x 1200 meters at 95-96 sec/lap (4:47 intervals), 800 meter recoveries at 4:18 max time (that is 90% of 4:47), then 3600 meters cooldown. Total should be 16000 meters, or approximately 10 miles.

Easy runs: three 8.67 mile runs on average.

In an effort to get my lactate threshold up, and in the light of the lack of tempo runs during my "faltering motivation" period, I ran my second tempo today within two weeks. After the 4 miles last week, I ran 5 this time. The temperature was much nicer 73 degrees, and though humidity was high (right after a rain), the weather was cloudy, so it was mostly not a problem. I did get full saturation of my running clothes by the end of the run, but I think it didn't hinder my performance.

Splits were 6:26, 6:35, 6:32, 6:33, 6:26. Average of 6:30.39 with the hundredths taken into account. Absolutely perfect. This was ran in the Clark Park course, which is not completely flat either. And during 55-60 mile weeks.

Week of 9/2.

Total: 56 miles.
Long runs: 11 and 16 miles.
LT run: 5 miles tempo, approx. 8 miles total.
Easy runs: 7 miles each.

Tempo in 88 F? That's what happens if you train for a Fall HM in Louisville. I was reading my Spring training log today, and I was lamenting 71 F temperatures for a tempo run. LOL!

Considering the heat (also, full sun at 4pm EDT, which is solar 2:17pm!), splits were actually pretty good. 6:43, 6:37, 6:37, 6:39.

I realized I haven't run a tempo run since July 11. I need it much more than VO2 max, so I decided to run tempo today. It will be 4 miles of tempo. Next week is 5 miles of tempo. Pace should be ~6:30, no worse than 6:45.

Another run at 11:40pm, 76 F, Brooks. This time I ran without Garmin, 4 miles in 31:38.

Monday, 87 F, partly sunny, but full sun at the end. Fucking hot. (Asics.)

Interestingly, it is *not* hotter than average. It is impossible to train hard during the day in the summertime here.

Week of 8/26/2012 (week 9):

Try 60 miles.
Long runs: 15 miles and 10 miles. Everything else: 8.75 on average.
VO2 max: 5 x 3:00 uphill. 2-minute downhill jogs for recovery.

Starting with the 15-miler tomorrow morning. Coincidentally it's the day the Ironman Louisville. I'll run on the riverside hoping for sub 8-min miles. It will be fairly warm, but not superhot.

Yeah, I messed up again. The last couple of weeks were characterized by meager attempts to get back to regular training, but with no race on the horizon and way too much work, the efforts were only realized in the sporadic single 7-8 mile runs.

But now the good news: U of L will sponsor a team for the LSC Half marathon, and I'm on the team. I must go below 1:30 again, and there are a few nasty hills in Cherokee Park. I ramp up some training by the weekend and I'll try to catch up with my abandoned plan. So I'll attempt the following week plan and mileage:

08/26 (week 9): 60 miles
09/02 (week 8): 56 miles
09/09 (week 7): 61 miles
09/16 (week 6): 65 miles
09/23 (week 5): 63 miles
09/30 (week 4): 56 miles
10/07 (week 3): 58 miles
10/14 (week 2): 54 miles
10/21 (week 1): 49 miles
10/28 (race week): 40 miles

It's a little scary to jump into a 60 mile week, I hope I can do it... I ran 9 today and except for a mild muscle pull (left calf) I felt fine.

Oh, and also peak weeks in Poland... sounds unlikely, but hey, one can still plan, right?

I finished last week with the planned 60 miles, but I struggled a bit. It took 7 days instead of 6, so I'm back to Monday-Sunday weeks.

Week -8: 56 miles.
Long runs: 11 and 16 miles.
LT run: 5 miles tempo, we can make it 8 miles total.
Easy runs: 7 miles each.

I probably overtrained last week... I couldn't do any fast running (tried), I had constant fatigue, etc. The heat doesn't help... Anyway, I skipped the second half of the week and as of yesterday (Monday), I restarted the week. I'm not sure I can maintain this kind of running. I already forgot how hot the summer is here. Last night I went to run at 9pm. The sun was down, and by the time I finished, it was pitch dark of course. Guess what the temperature was. 90 degrees. now wonder it was hard. (Nevertheless, I did 10 miles at 7:44/mile.)

Week of 7/15 (-9):

Total: 60 miles.
Long runs: 15 and 10 miles.
Every other day should average 8.75 miles. That means mostly doubles unless I do Siltstone.
VO2 max: 5x 3:00 moderately steep uphill. That is definitely not Siltstone, but if I swap it out for Siltstone, it may actually be just as good VO2 max training.

What a tempo today! I decided to do it in the evening. I realized that once the sun is down (or almost down), the temperature is very reasonable. It was theoretically 89 today, but it felt perfect. With no shirt, of course, but primarily because I didn't want bleeding nipples. Cheaper and works better than body glide. Plus it IS cooler with no shirt on if there is no strong sunshine. That is a fact.

OK, so this what I did today: I went to Seneca Park, and I ran the tempo on the 1.2 mile fitness trail. Somehow I don't like our neighborhood tempo course. It has too many turns, and just a bit too much elevation change. The Seneca park course has only 11 feet of climb per lap (1.2 mile), people around, a lot of runners, too.

The two miles of warmup felt sluggish, and I was worried that the run wouldn't be great. I did the warmup at 8 min/mile. I also felt a bit warm. It was cooling down outside, but the sun was still out (8 o'clock). After the second mile, off I went. The first fast mile was 6:26.48, and then I knew I would be fine. If the first fast mile is much faster than what I am aiming for, it means I'm in a good shape. I was aiming for 6:40. I slowed down a bit, doing the second mile in 6:36.40. The third mile I meant to run in comfortable pace, so that I would get under 6:40 in 4th again, but it turned out to be 6:33.22. The 4th mile I let myself loose and ran a 6:27.98. I could have done a 5th with 6:30ish pace, if I wanted to.

That's great! Average pace 6:31/mile. Absolutely perfect tempo pace. Also, 4 miles in 26:04. It looks like I went through 5K under 20:30. In a tempo training run. Cool!

It was hard to get myself to finish the cooldown, but I did it. Sweat again saturated my shorts and was running down on my legs. But now I'm acclimatized. It didn't feel uncomfortable.

Today I ran a double. Pfitzinger says that when your recovery run reaches 8 miles, you can split in into two (morning and evening), and that gives better recovery. So I did just that. I do feel fresh now, even though I ran my evening run crazy fast, especially the end, but my legs felt great and I had to go to the bathroom. :)  Also, I'm totally puzzled that according to weather.com, I did my run 89 degrees, but I didn't feel hot at all. I even had my shirt on. That supports the notion that it's not the temperature that matters. When I run in the same air temperatures in late morning, the sun is out bright, the asphalt is hot, and the humidity is much higher than it was now, I think.

I finally bought a new pair of sunglasses today. My favorite brand of sports sunglasses: Foster Grant's Ironman sunglasses. They are perfect for running. This is my third pair. The first I lost at sea in Charleston, and I think the second pair broke, but I don't remember how...

Today I ran 14 miles in 88 degrees, and I drank one liter of Gatorade and one liter of water, and I still got dehydrated! It's not even just the temperature. It's somehow the temperature, the sun and the pace together. And I did get up fairly early, left for the run before 8 o'clock. I'm happy it's over. This training through the summer is hard.

Let me copy my mileage plan with Sunday week start dates:


07/08 (week 10): 56 miles
07/15 (week 9): 60 miles
07/22 (week 8): 56 miles
07/29 (week 7): 61 miles
08/05 (week 6): 65 miles
08/12 (week 5): 63 miles
08/19 (week 4): 56 miles
08/26 (week 3): 58 miles
09/02 (week 2): 54 miles
09/09 (week 1): 49 miles
09/16 (race week): 40 miles

So next week, starting tomorrow (maybe with a rest day, I haven't decided yet):

Total: 56 miles.

Long runs: 14 and 10 miles.

Tempo: 4 miles fast, with 2+2 warmup and cooldown: 8 miles.

Easy runs: 8 miles each or 2 x 4 miles AM and PM.

If I do the Siltstone trail tomorrow, that will give me plenty of mileage, so I may not need the doubles.

Right after finishing my previous post (below), I realized that due to the extra miles I ran previously in the week, I only have 5.5 miles for my easy run (and of course 14 for my long). So I decided to go and do the easy run, even though it's 93 degrees and the sun is close to the zenith. It's fucking hot, but I did it.

Yesterday I did the trail run in Seneca Park with the trail running group. Even though they are generally slower than I am, it is always fun to run with them. But today I couldn't get myself to get up early, and due to 100+ heat and bad air in the afternoon it is hopeless to get a decent run in. I probably could have done it from like 10 to 11, but in the last few days I realized that 90 degrees with the sun close to the zenith is just as bad (or worse) than 100 degrees with sun on the horizon. Maybe I could do the run from like 7 to 9 in the evening, but the air will almost certainly be quite bad. We'll see, but most likely I'll just take a rest day. That's OK: I'm not shifting to Sunday week start, but I pushed mt RD to Friday this way. Maybe next week I can have it on Saturday, then Sunday, then on Monday and the week start is then automatically shifted.

OK, it happened again... I didn't want to race. I'm in high training mode. I ran 10 miles yesterday. I haven't had enough sleep in the last few days. But how should I spend my 4th of July? My family is away, it would be really hot... sure, I can grill some burgers, maybe I could even work, but I didn't want to work. My first July 4th as a permanent resident of the US, and I already decided to fly the US flag on our house. No, I'm not going to work.

I do have some speed training for this week. It's 5 x 2:30 uphill. Not exactly like a 5K. But why does Pfitzinger want me to do this? I know why: at this point in the training cycle there are many disadvantages going to the track, let alone race! I guess the biggest danger is injury. Well, my body holds up pretty well, and not injury prone at all. 5 x 2:30 is 12:30 of hard running. Even if part of the 5K is about LT, even if the end is anaerobic, wouldn't everybody agree that there is at least 12:30 of VO2 max work involved? The last worry is overtraining, but it is hard to overtrain by running only 20 minutes. So it was decided. I'm running the race.

The Great Buffalo Chase 5K Race Report


Goal: maybe PR (19:11), but it's hard to know what I can do in the middle of training, after 10 miles the day before, and fairly warm temperatures. B goal: 20 minutes. If I can't do that, I would be ashamed.

I had to get up at 5 o'clock, because the race was in Frankfort, KY, on the grounds of the Buffalo Trace distillery. Buffalo Trace is one of my favorite whiskeys. You can't beat it with $25 for a bottle: IMO to find a better whiskey you will have to fork out at least $40. This was an important reason for me to do the race. Even if I can't do well, I get to see the distillery. The disadvantage was the hour long drive from Louisville.

I got there well in time, and the last-minute registration was very smooth. Surprisingly there were even enough bathrooms/port-a-potties. The race was quite large with 690+ runners, and the winners in the last years had Kenyan names....

I started to warm up, and by this time I knew I ate too much before the race. I'm always too worried that I wouldn't eat enough, so this time I had a big dinner and a big breakfast (albeit at 5:30am). Now this was definitely too much, and I experienced some GI discomfort. It was also warm, 76 degrees with high humidity, so I decided to run shirtless. I have to say it was a great decision.

I lined up at the front and off we went at exactly 8:00. I decided to go out at around 6:00 pace. This is because I didn't want to deprive myself the chance of going under 19 minutes, however unlikely it may be. We were running in the shadows of the buildings of the distillery. Interesting course with the typical black molded brick buildings and the barrel tracks across the roads. The black mold is called the Angel's Share fungus, and it feeds on the evaporated alcohol from the aging barrels. It may have been the mold or the alcohol vapor that I could very distinctively smell, but I developed some minor breathing difficulties. It went away when we left the vicinity of the warehouses, but it came back again during the award ceremony, which was again among those buildings.

The first mile had a hill in it, but it wasn't too bad, and in fact the mile was net downhill. I was going hard, but there were pros in the field and they left us quickly. I just tried to settle in the field at around the 6 minute pace. I felt fine at the mile marker.

Mile 1: 5:56

We left the buildings, and we were out on some road in a field with no shadows whatsoever. It was hot here, and I knew it would affect me. But other people slowed around me more than I. I wanted to be careful, so I just held my position, but eventually I passed a few runners. I think only one guy passed me, but he was not in my age group. I decided not to worry until some potential age groupper passes me. I skipped the aid station at Mile 1.5. I though I could pour some water on my head, but they distributed something in paper cups from Gatorade coolers, so I didn't want to risk pouring Gatorade over my head. :) We made a loop, and started to go back. I entertained myself watching the runners coming from the opposite direction.

Mile 2: 6:15

The big hurt started here, as usually; I already forgot how painful is to run 5Ks. :) It's been more than a year since my last one. My legs were also tired, and the 10 miler from yesterday made itself remembered. The last mile was basically the first mile backwards, which means a hill, and this time it was net uphill. At 2.5 mile I was slowing so badly, that it became clear that the 19-minute dream is over. In fact I was already slower on average than my PR pace, and I was very tired.

Mile 3: 6:28

For the last 0.1 I put together everything I had, and I tried to catch one more guy who looked like my age from behind. I came up just a bit short: he finished just ahead of me (turns out he was one age group younger). The kick was at around 5:30 pace according to my Garmin.

Finish time: 19:17.

I missed my PR by a few seconds... if I knew maybe I could have tried harder in the third mile... but actually I don't know if I had even just one second left in me. Maybe if I go out slower... but I'm not even sure of that. Obviously this was not a prime race, and was not meant to be a prime race, so this is a great time.

Postrace food was fine, though their bananas tasted terrible. The awards started at around 9:30, and I got second place in my age group! I won a nice silver medal. The winners all had African sounding names and the winning time was 14:12.

I decided to go on the distillery tour at 10:00. It was great fun, and included some sampling. Not enough, of course, so I bought a bottle of Buffalo Trace and a nice whiskey glass in the gift shop. I'm sipping this great Bourbon as I'm writing this report.

Happy 4th of July!

Thursday I had to miss my group run - the temperature was 101 degrees and the air quality was "unhealthy". Actually most likely everyone bailed, so it would have been a group run of one. Anyway, this had the consequence that I had an URD, and I didn't switch to Sunday week starts.

Today I ran 13.5 miles in the morning, and it was really hard. It was only 79 degrees, so I don't quite understand why it was so hard, but I felt I was done at mile 9... maybe the humidity, or my old shoes, or whatever. I ran shirtless for most of the run, only put on the shirt in last 2 miles on the highway overpasses, because the sun was up high, no shadows there, and I didn't want to get sunburned. Nevertheless, both my shorts and my shirt was completely soaked with sweat. I hung them out to dry and they dripped so much that they produced this fairly large puddle of sweat. Gross, but sort of funny, too. I lost 3 lbs during the run, even though I drank about a liter of water.

My pair of New Balance is now well over 500 miles, so I really should retire them. They don't feel right any more. I already ordered the new pair. But I think I'll still use the good old NB tomorrow, because I want to go for the trail run in Jefferson Memorial Forest. I miss the trails, and I only need a 7.6 easy run to complete my week.

Next week (#11), beginning on 7/2:
Total: 53 miles.
Long runs: 10 and 14 miles.
VO2 max: 5 x 2:30 uphill. Recovery: min 1:15, max 2:15. Even with 2 miles warmup and 2 miles recovery this will be roughly 7 miles. Round it up to 7.25 to make it equal to the easy runs.
Easy runs: 3 x 7.25 miles

Edit: Now I have mild cramps in my calf muscles. I think I have electrolyte depletion... I should get back to Gatorade for my long runs, at least *some* Gatorade. Maybe that's why it was so hard today.

I was partying with music fans on Saturday, so I missed my Sunday long run. I was just too tired to get up in the morning, and also, too much alcohol the night before - then I just basically chose to work on my car late into the night instead of running late into the night. So last week I finished 13 miles short. Not ideal, but I may be OK. As long as I do fine this week.

Week -12: Let's consider it to have started on Sunday (6/24).
Total mileage: 53.
Long runs 9 and 13.
LT: 2 x 2.5 miles intervals. Trying to get them down to around 6:30, but it seems hard. 6:40 will do in a pinch. 3 minutes jogging in between. 8 miles.
Easy 7.67/run.

I was in Halifax for most of the week, and I didn't have enough time to run, but I still managed to get some running in in the beautiful city, mostly in Point Pleasant Park.

The Big Hit HM opened up registration: it is $64. It looks like they may have had this up for a while, but I don't think the main page linked to it, or I may have just missed it.

LSC HM: Registration is $50 before 7/2. I think I wrote a wrong date before. It goes up to $65 until 10/1, then to $75.

Louisville HM: Unsurprisingly, still no info. But it probably will be on 10/14, because I found this date on the organizer group's website.

Today I finished the week with very hard run in the heat. No matter what, it doesn't seem like I can keep up any reasonable speed if temps are over 80 F. Today, it was barely over 80 (fairly high humidity, of course), and I was fine until mile 6. Then cut. I was able to manage a 8:15 pace after that, but that's it. This probably didn't come out back in SC simply because I never ran sub-8 miles back then. In fact 8:15 miles were considered to be too fast.

Week of 6/17-18 (Sunday or Monday):
Total: 49 miles.
Long runs: 9 and 13 miles. We'll see what pace I can do, but do come in under 8 minutes.
VO2 max: 5 x 3:00 on grass, golf course or trails. This will probably be "trails". I'll be in Halifax for this, but the place seems like there are plenty of trails nearby. ~7 miles.
Easy runs: 6.67 miles each.

Yesterday I ran 2 x 2 miles of tempo intervals. Trying to get to the next level with speed: the splits were 6:34, 6:28 (recovery here) 6:22, 6:36. My pacing sucks and was also harder than some tempo should be, so maybe I should back down just a little.

Training plan is starting tomorrow:

Week of 6/11 (eventually I'll change to starting my weeks on Sunday, because the warmup races will be probably on Saturday -- surprisingly, the Big Hit HM is on Sunday -- but for now, Monday start will work just fine).

Total: 46 miles, including:

Long runs: 12 and 9 miles at 8:30 to 7:30 pace. Meaning starting at 8:30 and finishing at 7:30. This will be a new way of doing these; though I have read this at many places, I always thought it would be too hard to accelerate, not slow down. Which may have been true in the past, but it should be doable now.

LT: 2 x 2 mile intervals. 1.5 miles warmup, 2 miles fast at 6:30/mile, then 3 minutes jogging, then another bout of 6:30 pace, then 1.5 or 2 miles of cooldown. Approx. 8 miles.

Easy runs: 5.67 miles each at 7:30 to 8:30 pace, as slow as comfortable within that range.

Still building, on my way to 49 miles this week. I slept in today, so by the time I got out to run, it was 80-some degrees. Stupid me picked a course that was basicaly full sun. It was quite hard to keep my average pace under 8 minutes, which was my goal. But I did it: 13.2 miles in 1:44:53, 7:57 pace. Next week I'll start my training cycle. I'm targeting the Big Hit HM on September 23rd, but so many things can happen, I don't sign up just yet.

I resumed regular training right away with 6 miles on Sunday, and of course it was hard, even though I ran it slowly. I ran almost 8 today, and it was already a lot easier. I'm quite fine actually. The most significant reminders of the weekend are my sore quads.

Bernheim Forest Trail Half Marathon Race Report


Goal: No time goal, because it is a trail race. Just run it as fast as I can.


I jumped into this race in the last minute. I certainly didn't haven any cross country training, in fact I slacked out after the Derby, so (unusual of me), I didn't expect to run a great race. The main reason I still wanted to run it was that I always wanted to run the Millennium Trail in Bernheim Forest as training, and now I would have a cleared trail, lots of signs, aid stations, etc. I knew it was hard but that just made it more attractive.

About 150 runners got together for the race on this cool, gorgeous June morning. A little over 100 would run the half marathon, which was, as I implied, essentially the Millennium Trail. The rest did the full. I talked to Jim, the race director after registration, and he said, if you can run a 1:30 road HM, you will be good for a 2:30 here. He said that I should get a good position in the first mile before the single tracks, then go conservatively till about mile 7; then my road experience will drive me home. I actually took his advice word by word.

Bernheim Forest is a beautiful nature preserve close to Clermont, KY, which is about 30 miles from Louisville. I always have to mention that it is right across the road from the Jim Beam distillery. The terrain consists mostly of steep limestone hills, and it is completely forested. There are no high mountains here, but the terrain is unforgiving. I don't want to jump ahead, but I can say that this was the hardest race I have ever done, and in fact probably the hardest athletic achievement of my life.

This was also National Trails Day, so there were lots of events in the forest. The scene was busy around the visitors' center. I started my warmup at around 7:35, because I wanted to be ready to run fast in the first mile. I needed to use the bathroom, but there were only 2 port-a-potties for all these people (the visitors' center building hadn't opened yet), so I chose the bushes. I finished the warmup, and went to the start line.

The start was on an asphalt road by the visitors' center. I wasn't really sure how to line up, so I tried to stay close to the front. Last year's winner gave a little speech at the beginning, which was sort of like a prayer, but the John Muir way. Our church is the forest, and our religion is nature. I really liked it. Probably because that is what I believe in. When I die, I want my ashes to be scattered in the forest. Preferably at a place where no building, no city, no civilization will ever ruin the holiness of nature.

(Here I took a long break of writing this report to read about John Muir again. He is my prophet. I am so touched by his writings. If you haven't heard about this man, you must look him up.)

At exactly 8:00 the race started. It was a much more relaxed start than most road races. People honestly tried to find their place before the single track. I decided to let a few people pass. I was doing a 6:50-7:00 pace, anticipating major difficulties later. (I was right.)

At around mile 1.5, we hit the single tracks. And up we went! My run slowed to a jog first, and then to a walk. I didn't feel too bad, because most people were walking around me. I mean, it was hard enough to walk fast there, and whoever tried to run were not actually faster. I'm talking about really steep climbs. In about 1/2 mile we gained close to 400 feet of elevation. Now I understood why Jim said 2:30. I tried to keep up with the people around me, but I was worried that I would kill myself at the very beginning, so I let a few more people pass. One guy, in particular, in a gray UA tee shirt, was hesitant first, but he decided to go for it and pulled away. The rest of the runners who passed me stayed in my general vicinity. There was one more very young guy, who ran shirtless (actually banditing, as I learned later): he was in front of me, but I lost sight of him eventually.

Four of us stayed mostly together. A latino looking guy, a girl, who was the leading female runner, an orange tee shirt and I. At around mile 2 or 3, the orange tee let us pass, and I never saw him again. The sun was coming out, the forest was beautiful, and I felt the spirits of the forest around me. The exertion made this feeling even stronger. I was hurting, but the pain was pleasurable .

The three of us followed the following formula: the latino guy was in the front, I was in the middle and the girl at the back. The latino guy pulled away on the climbs, and we both caught up on the downhills. There was virtually no flat surface. In fact the downhills were also so steep, that it took more effort to run on them than on flat road. We had to constantly brake, slow down, otherwise a fall would be inevitable. In fact the latino guy had a few close calls, and once he sprained his ankle. I was watching him from behind, and it looked bad, but he kept running.

At around mile 3.5, I started to feel really thirsty. There hadn't been any aid stations yet. I asked the latino guy if we passed any. He said no, and he also said we will have one in every 3-4 miles. At mile 4, I started to  worry. At mile 4.5  I was really thirsty and I started to really worry. I knew if I won't have water in about a mile, my race is blown. The latino guy was so nice that he offered to share his dwindling resources, but of course I couldn't accept it. Fortunately we hit a gravel road at mile 4.7 (the first one), and there was the aid station! Now on trail race, it is different than on the road. At least that's how I see it: on the road, you pick up a cup (or two), and take it with you. Drink the water and throw away the cup. It's fine, especially if you do it in a few hundred meters of the aid station: the volunteers pick up the cups. On the trail, throwing away a cup in the woods sounds sacrilegious to me. So I stopped, drank a cup of water, threw the cup into the trash, then went on. I probably should have drank two cups, but I didn't want my company to leave me behind.

The next mile was flat or downhill. The girl told me she wanted to pass me, and I said OK, but I stayed on her heel. Actually I felt that they were blocking me a bit, but I didn't mind. I remembered what Jim said to take the first 7 miles conservatively. We were still quite fast. In fact at one point we descended so fast that my ear popped. I have never experienced that on a narrow, rocky, technical trail. In fact a guy after the race told me that he saw me run downhill in the beginning, and he doesn't understand how can I be so fast. I told him that I'm simply crazy. When I race, nothing else matters. I run fast or I die. It must be the ancient fleeing reflex working in me.

At close to mile 7, the marathon course diverted, and we almost took the turn. Right after that, a brutal, one mile long climb started. The latino guy first pulled away, as usual. The girl jogged a bit, and I just walked. I basically did the same pace walking as she jogging. Soon she stopped and let me pass. I told her that she might pass me back soon, cause I'm just as tired, but she seemed really exhausted, so I passed here anyway. In 50 meters, the latino guy exclaimed "shit!", and he stopped. So I passed him walking. I gained 50 meters on them by the end of the climb (walking!), and then when the flat(ter) stage started, I thought it was my time, so I decided to open up a gap. I went hard. The course was somewhat flat here (meaning rolling hills), and I did leave them behind. So much so, that when I reached the aid station at mile 8, I drank two cups of water, and they didn't catch up. After that, it was a downhill mile, and I really went berserk, I couldn't believe myself how much risk I was willing to take. I glanced back, but but my two former companions were nowhere in sight.

I reached mile 9, the valley, all by myself. I hit a fire road, and the course followed this road for a few hundred meters. The signage was somewhat confusing, and I stopped, and ran back a little, but then I figured out the way to go. I immediately realized the dangers of running alone... Anyway, I only lost about 30 seconds. I heard after the race that some people kept following the fire road for over a mile before they realized they went off the course. Well, I guess this is part of the difficulty of trail races.

After the turn off the fire road, I started to count back the miles. Only four miles left... I started to hurt real bad... on the top of this, all of the mile from 9 to 10 was uphill. I tried to run here and there but it was really hard. I started to talk to myself. "It's a fucking race, you asshole. Run, like you mean it!" When this stopped working, I started to imagine the latino and the girl as a lion chasing me (don't laugh now). I seriously induced fear in myself to produce some adrenaline. "You run, or you'll fucking die here." I was gasping for air. When a blackberry bush scratched me at one point, I felt a kind of a relief. Because it was a different kind of a pain, not nearly as bad as the one I felt running.

I looked at my GPS watch at one point, and I could believe I only advanced a half of a mile... but at the end I somehow made it to the top. Mile 10, and another aid station. Almost too soon. But they had Coke! I drank a cup of Coke, thanked them and I was off.

You probably noticed that I haven't written about my splits and pace. It is because in this race it was essentially meaningless. After I left latino guy and the girl behind, I suspected I was in the top 10, and all I cared about was my position. I wanted to finish in the top 10. In particular, because those are the runners, who are listed on the main page of the results. My overall pace at the mile 10 aid station was 9:41/mile, which slowed to 9:43 by the time I finished my Coke. It sounds pathetic, but I swear it was a lot harder than the 6:40 pace of the Derby Half.

Rolling hills followed the aid station, and lots of vegetation. It was hard to see the ground, or anything for that matter. I did a steady pace, until suddenly, I saw the bandit guy walking 50 meters ahead of me. When he saw me, he started running, but it was hopeless. I made a point of running him down fast, so he would be demoralized. Later he told me he didn't feel ethical to drink anything at aid stations, so he was very dehydrated by that time. No wonder! He asked me how far from the finish we were, and wished me good luck.

I continued to press on. I didn't know this guy was banditing, so now I wanted to defend my new position. A downhill section started, and then who did I see? The gray tee shirt guy, who passed me before mile 2. When he saw me I told him: "Well, I see you again." He responded: "Hi! Go ahead, I'll stick with you." I didn't respond, but I thought: "You wish!" I passed him and then I ran really hard. I opened up a big gap immediately. In a half of a mile, he was not in sight.

There was one last really hard climb. Starting at mile 11.5, it went all the way to almost mile 13. I was struggling more than ever, but pressing harder than ever. The gray tee passed me on an uphill back at mile 2, so I thought he may come back any time. But only a mile and a half left. I tried every trick in the book. Lions, out-of-body, he-is-right-behind-me, etc. I was hurting real bad. Probably the hardest mile and a half in my life. I felt nausea, and I *wanted* to puke, but my stomach was empty... I didn't stop, of course. I hallucinated a weird guy in white clothes by the trail. I thought it was a spectator, but when I looked at him directly, he disappeared.

I hit mile 13, and an asphalt road. A black arrow pointed to the right, so I took the right turn. I expected the finish line any time, but it didn't come. Neither I saw any ribbons or blazes that were used to mark the course. I glanced at my GPS: it showed 13.25. I started to panic. I slowed down a bit... I'm lost. I can't believe I get lost a quarter mile from the finish line. Where is the finish?! I must have hallucinated the arrow! What now? Should I run back?

Then I spotted a ribbon finally! I ran hard, and I saw some cars ahead, but it was only a parking lot. Then some people... that must be it... but its was only some spectators. At least I knew I was almost there. Then I saw a finish clock, and Jim. The chute was marked with cones, but my brain was gone, and I didn't quite understand where the finish line was supposed to be. Nevertheless, Jim signaled me where to run and I finished the race in 2:10:02. Garmin 13.64 miles. Of course, a trail half marathon is never exactly 13.1 miles, and these trail runners are tough as nail: I'm sure they would only complain if the course is ever shorter.

It turns out that I made 6th place! Not bad, out of 99. Especially, because the runners are more serious here than at road races. The organizers were also impressed, because they knew I wasn't in the trail runner circle, it was my first trail race, I ran in road shoes, and Jim also said that I was the first finisher who didn't fall. :) I was also the fastest guy over 30 (I'm 36), but there were no age group awards.

If you had patience to read this whole thing, you see why I said it was the hardest race I've ever done. It was a lot harder than the KY Derby half. It was a lot harder than the Kiawah Island Marathon. It was a lot harder than any of my two completion of the Gazlo mountain bike endurance event back in Hungary (close to a 100 miles in the Bakony mountains, virtually all off road and rough elevation profile).

Trail runners are the nicest people. I hung around, chatting with people until noon, when they had the award ceremony. The winner's time was 1:45. Unreal. The latino guy finished with 2:18, the girl (who indeed won the female division) finished with 2:15. Trail runners are super modest. I think they are a lot tougher than an average road runner, but there is a lot less bragging here. The hyperbole in "Born to Run" has some truth to it after all.

They had the best food, because they grilled burgers and hot dogs! I had two burgers, plenty of Coke. After the ceremony, I left for home. Only a handful of the marathon runners had arrived by that time. The winning time was (I think) around 3:36. Wow.

After this great event, I still think that trail racing is not for me. It is too hard. It is very hard to prepare for. Hard to measure your progress, because times are meaningless. But is was a lot of fun!

PS: Funny that I just found this on Bernheim's website:

"Half Millennium Trail Hike
Take a hike – a long hike! Tony Cecil and other Bernheim Volunteer Naturalists will be your guides on half of the 13.75 mile Millennium Trail. This is a rigorous hike; experienced hikers only please. Bring a bag lunch, snacks and plenty of water."

So if *hiking* *half* of the trail is rigorous, and for experienced hikers only, how about *running* the *whole* trail *as fast as possible*. Well, I can barely move now...

Thu: 4.4 miles on Seneca Park trails. Shoes: NB. 83 F, cloudy. No GPS, time was 37:22.

I went to check out the Louisville Trail Runners club for this one. This was supposed to be a "faster" run, and after the disappointment I had with the university running club and their serious runners, I wanted to find something more serious. Nevertheless, I didn't have any expectations.

Well, let me tell you, those miles were hard! The terrain was hard, and running 8:30 miles was challenging! I think I've found my group.

I plan to jump into the Bernheim Forest half marathon in the weekend. The winner time is usually about two hours, so it must be tough.

Wed: 6 miles in 83 F, sunny, Brooks.

Sunday's run was a mess. In 92 degrees the 12 miles was too ambitious, and mixed in with a bout of diarrhea, it was more than my body could take. I ended up cutting it short, taking many breaks, and running it really slowly. I created a new category for these runs and I named it "failed". Fortunately I'm still in building phase (not for long though), so it doesn't matter all that much. Still finished the week with roughly 41 miles.

Provided I'm running the Big Hit HM, here is how the mileage plan should look like:

Week of
05/28: (building): 45 miles
06/04: (building): 49 miles
06/11 (week 14): 46 miles
06/18 (week 13): 49 miles
06/25 (week 12): 53 miles
07/02 (week 11): 53 miles
07/09 (week 10): 56 miles
07/16 (week 9): 60 miles
07/23 (week 8): 56 miles
07/30 (week 7): 61 miles
08/06 (week 6): 65 miles
08/13 (week 5): 63 miles
08/20 (week 4): 56 miles
08/27 (week 3): 58 miles
09/03 (week 2): 54 miles
09/10 (week 1): 49 miles
09/17 (race week): 40 miles

Thu: 6 miles in 86 F, sunny, Brooks.

Today was my 3rd day of 6 miles each, and frankly, I feel I didn't really lose any fitness (probably not quite true, though). The biggest problem is the heat: today it was 84 degrees, sunny. I also wear my shirt (for the first time since the break), because I'm more afraid of the sun (as in radiation) than the heat.

After a 3 week break, I ran 6 miles at slightly below 8 min/mile today. It felt great, although the 76 degrees humid weather felt quite hot (and I ran shirtless!). I'll plan 6 miles/day until Friday, and 13 miles in the weekend, and I see I feel afterwards.

As for racing plans, I'm in for another half marathon. Probably none of the fall races can be as ideal as the Derby Half was, so I will just shoot for a PR, if only by 1 second. Training paces will be set per McMillan determined by the 1:27:11 HM.

Potential fall races:

Sept. 23: Big Hit HM: Course is very similar to the Derby HM, but one has to climb the Central Avenue overpass twice! Last year the field was only about 1000 runners. The race is a little early, plan should start on June 10, if no interruption is anticipated, and it might be too warm. No registration info is on-line yet.

Oct. 16: Louisville HM: This is one running from the Water Tower, on River Rd and on the Riverwalk. Extremely low key, probably not that well organized. The website is unprofessional, they did't respond my email, and I doubt even the date is correct, because it's a Tuesday. Sponsored by Ken Combs RS. Some concrete sidewalks! No registration info is available (and probably won't be).

Nov. 3: Louisville Sports Commission HM: It looks like a real "runners' race", but the course runs through the Cherokee Park hills, which are quite hard! It might be too cold in November. Registration is $65 before 6/2. At the Derby expo they said 2000 runners, if I'm not mistaken.

Kentucky Derby Mini (Half) Marathon Race Report

Goal: 1:29:59

I heard that 18000 runners signed up for this race (full and half marathon together), so I was worried that it would be impossible to park in any reasonable distance from the start line. I got up very early (4:30), and I left home at around 5:25 for the 7:30 start. I found a parking spot (the lot was empty) less than a mile from the start line, and I relaxed in the car until about 6:20. Then I walked to the start area, found a port-a-potty (really needed it this time, but there were no lines!), and then I found my corral. I was starting in corral B, right behind the seeded runners. I was actually running more like the seeded runners' pace, but this was my debut half-marathon, so I had no chance to get seeded.

The weather was ideal: 53 degrees and cloudy, but no rain. I warmed up in the corral for 15 minutes, mostly just by jogging in place and in small circles, because there was no space to do anything else. But it was OK. Corral adherence was great: I only saw one or two people who didn't belong there.

I finished the warmup at 7:15, and for the remaining 15 minutes, we heard the national anthem, we watched the wheelchair racers to start, and at 7:30 to the second, the race started. I went out at a pace that was about the same as the runners' around me, which proved to be a little faster than intended. But I felt relaxed, so I didn't worry about it.

Mile 1: 6:43

Pretty much the same was true for the next two miles. We were running through some working class neighborhoods of Louisville, but the residents were very supportive, cheering us on.

Mile 2: 6:42

Mile 3: 6:50

I was still pacing off of people around me, i.e. I fought the urge to start passing people. We turned east on Broadway into some substantial headwind, and I found myself in no man's land fighting the wind myself. I decided to accelerate to pull myself close to a big guy to help me draft.

Mile 4: 6:47

Due to my acceleration I now was running among 6:45/mile runners, but I had no problem keeping the pace. I was slightly worried that I would die at the end, especially because I was planning 6:50-6:52 pace, but I'm a gambler.

Mile 5: 6:45

We were running through the beautiful Old Louisville with the Victorian houses. The spectators were amazing. An aid station offered oranges, but I skipped it.

Mile 6: 6:45

I caught up to a guy, who seemed to follow a tactic of sprinting 100 meters, then getting winded and slowing down, then recovering and repeating the pattern. I'm not kidding: he was doing this until at least mile 8.5, when I finally left him behind for good.

I started to feel thirsty, and that worried me. I skipped the very first aid station, and they only gave very little water in small plastic cups in the later ones, so I didn't take in enough. My worst bonks happened due to dehydration, so I was worried that I could ruin this race despite starting so promising.

Mile 7: 6:40

There was an aid station right after the mile marker, and I took two cups of water just in time. After this I took two cups in the next two aid stations (skipping the last one at mile 12), so hydration was fine.

Before the race I debated if I should bring my Garmin to the race, and finally I decided I would do so. But I also had a detailed pace chart (my wife was so nice that she laminated it for me), which proved to be very useful later in the race, when the Garmin's error grew large enough, so that the mile markers didn't line up with the Garmin any more.

Mile 8: 6:47

After the mile marker followed one of the most prominent features of this course: we entered Churchill Downs, one of the most famous horse race courses of the world, which will be the venue of the Kentucky Derby a week from now. We didn't run on the track, of course, but on the service road inside the track. We crossed two tunnels to go under the track. Even though this is a trademark of this course, I didn't like it that much. The tunnels feel claustrophobic, too many turns, and my Garmin lost signal in the tunnels, so it's data was very inaccurate after this.

Mile 9: 6:42

OK, 4.1 miles left, I was still fine, my breathing was still 2-2 pattern. Maybe it's time to accelerate. I changed to 2-1 breathing, accelerated, and started to pick out people in front of me. Maybe it was the liberation from restrains, but I started to feel better, even though I was running faster.

Mile 10: 6:34

There was one mishap here: I forgot that the Garmin would only display the minutes of the total time beyond 1 hour (at least in the display mode I was using), so I wasn't sure any more how much ahead of pace I was. But it did display average pace, and I knew I was running fast, so I knew that barring disaster, sub-1:30 is in the bag. So I just concentrated on the remaining distance and I tried to gauge my effort for that. I was fast and passing runners all the time. For a while I was running behind a tall guy, who did the same, but eventually I passed him, too.

Mile 11: 6:33

Straight road, close to finish, running fast, passing people. No pain, euphoria.

Mile 12: 6:27

We were back downtown, took our last turn before the finish line. The course had a slight incline here, and I started to doubt my strategy and that maybe I accelerated too early. But it's OK. Remember, if you don't struggle, you didn't run hard enough. I passed a few more people.

Mile 13: 6:33

Finish line, downhill, usual euphoria, out of body experience. I saw the finish clock showing 1:27:xx. Dropped the hammer and shot down to the finish line in 30 seconds (4:28/mile pace).

Total time: 1:27:11 (chip time; clock time was 12 seconds slower).

Overall 122th place (out of 12108), 103th male, 14th in my age group. No awards of course.

It makes me wonder that I could have run faster if I started out faster, because I ran the last 5 kms in 20:02 (according to Garmin), which is a pretty good 5K time by itself, and down right amazing after a 10 mile warmup at race pace. But it's not that clear: the first few miles felt relaxed, but not too easy. I think that I probably could have saved a minute, tops.

The past race party was fun. I met up with friends, had some snacks and a beer. It's funny that running makes everything so much better: I liked the taste of Michelob Ultra.

With this performance I can get seeded next year. However temping it would be now to start to work on my marathon goals (I think I could BQ after a cycle), it is even more tempting to run this race next year. The organization was perfect. Seriously, I had to think hard to find just one thing that wasn't perfect. (And I did: the plastic cups. Paper cups are so much easier to drink from while running.) The last 5K suggests I'm not at the limit of my abilities. I could drop a few more pounds, devote another year for half marathon performance, and I could probably go sub-1:25 or better.

For now, I will take a bit of a break. I haven't decided what it will mean, but probably a month of very little running. Though it's tempting to eradicate those very soft 10K and somewhat soft 5K PRs of mine.

I'm ready for the race tomorrow. I got my third Hep B shot today; I hope it won't affect race performance. I was fine after the first two, so I took the gamble.

We are planning a visit to the Corvette factory next Wednesday with my father-in-law, so I'll replan the rest of the training to make that day a rest day. So tomorrow's rest day is postponed for Saturday, but that'll be fine, because I ran 5.6 miles today at 7:53, and not only I felt fine, but in fact I feel great.

Fri: 12 miles at around 8:00. Don't push it! It can't feel hard.
Sat: rest.

Week of 4/22 (37 miles):
Sun: 9 miles easy.
Mon: 3.5 miles easy.
Tue: 7 miles easy.
Wed: rest.
Thu: 3.5 miles very easy.
Fri: rest.
Sat: Race.

Last hard workout went perfectly today. In slightly warm conditions (72 F) I ran 3 x 2000 meters in 7:55, 7:51, 7:51. Felt fine, too. I probably could have done one more. I chatted with a middle school running coach, who leaded a training there afterwards. Fun day.

Heavy legs on the 5.5 mile recovery run today. It was also 81 F. Still I averaged well under 8 minutes per mile. I've definitely gotten faster. It is very tempting to find a 5K just like the week after the HM and try to piggy back a sub-19 5K on the HM training, LOL. Especially because 5Ks are so hard, and the training sucks, so I don't feel like doing another 5K cycle.

Ali Shuffle 10K race report

Goal: 40:00

My in-laws are staying in our house for a few weeks now, and late night my wife wanted to practice singing, because she has a performance today, so I had no place to sleep until like 1:00am last night. I tried to catch some sleep on the living room sofa while my mom-in-law was watching TV, but it was terrible quality. No wonder I was quite tired in the morning when I got up at 6:15.

I also had some weird stomach issues in the morning, so after an extended bathroom break, I left home a bit late. I arrived to start area at 7:35, and the race was scheduled to start at 8:00. I jogged a bit more than a mile to warm up. I felt I might need to go the bathroom again, but the lines at the two port-a-potties discouraged me. So I lined up at the front and hoped for the best.

This was an extremely low key event with less than 100 runners. Still, the idea was beautiful: start a race in the working class neighborhoods of Louisville, where Ali grew up, and finish it among the skyscrapers in downtown (at the Muhammad Ali Center). "Connecting communities one step at a time" was the motto of the race. It is also an unusual (and great) thing to see that about half of the runners were black. And the mayor of Louisville started the race!

It was supposed to start at 8:00 sharp, but apparently there was a car wreck on the course, so they delayed the start "by a few minutes". At 8:22 finally we started. The weather was great, low 60s, cloudy, no wind. The first 4 miles were almost completely flat, with a very gradual elevation of ~10 feet.

A couple of young guys shot out at the start, and then they slowed dramatically after like a 1/2 mile. I smiled when I passed them, but at least two of them still maintained a fairly good pace during the race: I saw them close to the end (the last part of the race was out-and-back), so I think they have potential, if they learn how to race. :) After I passed the younguns, there were only two guys in front of me: a 20ish guy in a black T-shirt and a 50ish in the lead, who told me before the race that he aimed for 6:05/mile. I knew I had no chance to ever catch the older guy, because he looked like a very experienced racer, so I knew he wouldn't make any rookie mistakes, but I decided to keep the young one in sight. Even though this meant I had to be a little faster than planned (about 6:15 pace), I realized this was do-or-die moment, because I have never been on the podium in any road race. The pace felt hard, but manageable.

Mile 1: 6:17

After the mile marker I was just fixated on the black T-shirt. He increased the distance, and I let him pull away, because when the adrenaline was mostly gone in mile 2, I knew the pace was too fast. I confirmed at a water stop that I was in 3rd place. I looked back in a long staightaway, and nobody behind me was in sight. So I dialed back to a more manageable pace.

Mile 2: 6:30

Not much I can remember from the next mile. It was completely straight, flat, leading to downtown. I managed my pace (not too fast), but I still saw the black T-shirt maybe like 200 yards ahead. He didn't seem to increase the distance any more.

Mile 3: 6:28

We were still running on this long, straight street, approaching the skyscrapers. The black T-shirt guy glanced back a couple of times. I started to see some subtle change in his stride. "He may be getting tired" I thought. "Maybe I should intimidate him just a bit." I started a push a bit harder. I was also quite tired, so I had to be careful, but a second place is just so much better than a third place, right? It was weird that in all my races so far, I was basically just concerned about my time, and now I found myself in a racing situation.

Mile 4: 6:24

I was closing on the black T-shirt. The next mile was all downhill, and the middle quarter was steep down (we would have to climb back up at the end). We passed the finish line, and the out-and-back portion started. Like a bloodhound in a hunt, I saw nothing but the black shirt. I'm a pretty good downhill runner, so I was closing in fast. By the end of the mile he was maybe 50 yards ahead. He kept looking back, and I think he was a bit demoralized. We chatted after the race, and he told me he didn't have a GPS watch, and he thought (hoped!) that the turnaround point is just around the corner.

Mile 5: 5:51

I remembered Pfitzinger's racing advice here. When you pass another runner for a position, you should surge, and don't slow until the other guy is considerably behind. Don't look back, because that shows weakness. So I did just that. I pulled my last reserves together, and passed him. He uttered "Good job!" when I went by. I only looked back after about 1/4 mile, and he was way behind. Still I expanded so much energy, that I was seriously tempted to stop right there. I also didn't help that we started to climb back up in this mile. But my extra effort is obvious from my split:

Mile 6: 6:17 (net uphill!)

The last portion was the steep uphill to the finish line, but once I see the finish line, it doesn't matter to me any more. No pain, just euphoria. I pushed as fast as I could, and I clinched my second place in the finish. The last portion was measured only 0.13 mile on the Garmin.

Last 0.13: 0:41 or so (waiting for the official results)

In the finish, I almost passed out, and very kind young guy asked me if I was alright. I couldn't answer for a good few seconds, I just nodded. After I caught my breath (by which time the black T-shirt also finished at 3rd place), we all high-fived with the podium finishers. I got some Gatorade, and then I hung around the finish area. It was pretty cool that people came to me congratulating, and a volunteer asked me about running, like I knew this stuff, LOL.

The course was not certified, and it was probably short, so I can't really claim this as a PR, but if I trust my Garmin (which I really shouldn't, because a portion we ran under the interstate, and the readings were hectic), I would have run about 39 minutes. In any case, almost certainly under 40. Looking at the early Garmin paces and the considering the final push, 39 minutes sounds plausible. I haven't decided how I will claim this yet.

The organizers really messed up the awards and the post-race activities. Have you ever been to a race where they forget to recognize the 2nd place runner? Because that's what happened. They went only by age groups, announcing only age group winners (and mentioning they overall place), and apparently I was in the age group 35-64, where I got 2nd place, with the 50ish guy beating me. But they didn't read the age group age limits correctly, so it looked like they skipped my age group, and when I asked them after the ceremony, they just basically gave me a medal and congratulated... weird. I think what really happened is that they were so inexperienced, they simply forgot that women are in different age group (I heard this as a rumor), and when they tried to rectify it, it was chaos.

Then I tried to board the shuttle that took back runners to the start line, but it just filled up in front of me, and I wasn't going to wait for another bus. I just jogged back to the start line (4.5 miles) for my car.

Last two weeks:

Week of 4/15 (46 miles):

Sun: 5.5 miles easy.
Mon: 9 miles at 8:00 or faster.
Tue: 5.5 miles easy.
Wed: 3200 m warmup; 3 x 2000 m at less than 8 minutes each, with 800 m recovery; 2800 m cooldown. Total of about 8.5 miles. This is the last hard workout. Nothing should feel hard after this.
Thu: 5.5 miles easy.
Fri: rest.
Sat: 12 miles at around 8:00. Don't push it! It can't feel hard.

Week of 4/22 (37 miles):
Sun: 3.5 miles easy.
Mon: 9 miles easy.
Tue: rest.
Wed: 7 miles easy.
Thu: 3.5 miles very easy.
Fri: rest.
Sat: Race.

Tuesday, 60 F sunny, Brooks.

14 miles long run today and for some reason I didn't feel great. I struggled a bit to keep the run under 8 min/mile. Probably yesterdays run was too hard (because of the terrain), or the fact that this was my 8th day without a rest day (+travel). Either way I'm glad it's over.

I just came back from mini road trip in the weekend from Asheville, NC. Still, managed to run every day. I did 6 miles in the Amboy greenway on Saturday in pitch dark - I was barely able to make out the (paved) trail, but I still managed sub-8 min paces. On the other hand, I did one of the the most beautiful runs of mine on Sunday in the Smokies: I ran 5 miles on Big Creek Trail that was leading to beautiful waterfalls.

I finished the week with 54 miles, if I count Sunday to next week (otherwise it was actually 59). My plan was 54, and I do mean to shift my week starting on Sundays, because my races are on Saturdays, and training works better this way.

Today it was 85 degrees, but I still managed 4 x 1600 meters at or close to VO2 max on the high school track. The sun was out, shining at full power, and the heat over the black surface of the track was brutal. I kept pouring water on my head during my 800 meter recoveries, and I took them really easy. I managed 6:22.82, 6:20.65, 6:26.55, 6:21.88. Average of ~6:23. Which is pretty good, because goal was 6:24.

Weekly mileage table for the rest of training.

04/02: Week 3, 54 miles.
04/09: Week 2, 50 miles.
04/16: Week 1, 46 miles.
04/23: Race week, 37 miles.

Week of 04/02:
-------------

My week is really messed up, because of the travel and all.

Mon: 11 miles at no slower than 8:00.

Tue: 4 x 1600 meters at 1 sec/lap slower than 8K-10K goal pace. McMillan gives me new goal paces for the 8K-10K as 3:57-3:59/km respectively. That is 94.8-95.6 sec/lap. So with the extra 1 sec, it should be ~96 sec/lap (how familiar, huh? the famous 4 min/km I needed for the 20 minute 5K).
Summary: 2.25 miles warmup and cooldown, 4 x 1600 m at 6:24 (1:36/lap) with 800 m recoveries: 10 miles. I hate to do this on a teaching day, but this is what happens when real life messes up the week.

Wed: 5.67 miles easy (7:39-8:09. Easy run is mandatory, Paul's visit).

Thu: 16 miles at no slower than 8:00 (on a teaching day - ugh).

Fri: 5.67 miles easy (travel day).

Sat: 5.67 miles easy (travel day).

Week of 04/09 (04/08):
---------------------

Sun: I'll try to start the week on Sunday, 04/08. This is so that Saturdays, the race days are the end of the week. It will give me more rest before the races. 4.67 miles easy.

Mon: 14 miles at no slower than 8:00.

Tue: 4.67 miles easy.

Wed: 10 miles at no slower than 8:00.

Thu: 4.67 miles easy.

Fri: Rest.

Sat: Ali Shuffle 10K and back to start. Total of 12 miles.

Sun: Start next week with an easy run.

Papa John's 10 miler Race Report

Goal: 1:08-1:10.

I considered this race as a tune up for the half marathon, so there was no taper, no special peaking training, and I still ran 10 miles on Wednesday, and left no rest day before the race. Especially when I learned that there are some nasty hills in the middle of the course, I decided that I would certainly not aim to run anything faster than HM race pace (6:52), and even 7:00 min/mile would be fine. I have never raced anything beyond a 10K seriously, so I had no idea what to expect. I knew that I was always struggling at least a little in training when I had to maintain this 6:50 pace, even for just 5 miles. On the other hand, I had run 10Ks at faster pace, but 10 miles is quite a bit longer that 10K.

In the morning I felt somewhat sleepy, and interestingly, I felt butterflies in my stomach. I'm not the nervous type before races, but this time just too many people knew that I was running and they know about my ambitious half marathon goal, so I felt if I ran like 1:15, it would be a disgrace.

I arrived to the parking lot of my workplace (1 mile from race start) at 7:30-ish, and then after a bathroom break, I slowly jogged to the start line. This was a really large race, so I asked around people who already lined up what pace they wanted to run, and when they heard about my sub-7 goal, they all told me to get farther ahead. Until I found myself basically just behind the seeded runners.

At 8:00 (5 minutes before the announced start time) quite unexpectedly, the organizers started the race! I tried to get into a groove, but my Garmin showed I jumped out way too fast, like at sub-6:30 pace. I forced myself to slow down (good decision), so I started to run at pace that felt quite comfortable. Still, finished the first mile quite a bit ahead of pace.

Mile 1: 6:35. (Note: every split I'll give here is by my Garmin, which is not perfectly accurate.)

After the split, I still tried to slow down. Kept telling myself: relax, relax. I thought at this pace I would blow up at the end. At this point we were running on a pretty flat, wide, straight street, and there was a small crowd around me, but there was still plenty of space to run.

Mile 2: 6:38

Still too fast. Relax, relax. The weather was absolutely perfect, 56 degrees and cloudy. I felt fine, but I wanted to slow down, because I knew the hills were coming. I let a whole bunch of people pass me - they ran a smarter race with more even splits. At the end of the mile, the first (not too steep) hill started.

Mile 3: 6:49

OK, this was more like it. At this point I thought there is no need to slow down further. Apparently I was doing better than expected, but that's fine. Clearly the finish was still far away, so I just made sure I don't start to accumulate lactate (I can feel it when it starts).

I ran the course a bunch of times in training so I knew the elevation profile exactly. Miles 4, 5 and 6 are hilly with no flat stretch. But the two hardest hills are the first and the last. The first started now. I knew it was long, so I cut back my pace, and I pictured a big red circular sign with "LACTATE" crossed through in the middle. I picked up some water here and drank 4 or 5 big sips before I threw it away.

Mile 4: 6:49

Nice split! On the top of the hill! In reality it was probably a bit slower, because (I'm guessing) due to the winding road in the park, I didn't run the tangents very well, and my Garmin reached this split before the actual mile marker.

I tried to maintain the effort level, and kept picturing the "no lactate" sign. I think knowing the course was a distinct advantage here, because when I knew a hill was short, I didn't bother to slow down much.

Mile 5: 6:51

I started to get tired, and the second nasty hill was still ahead. But this mile started with a downhill, and I'm a good downhill runner. No braking! It also helped that I realized that my ancient 5 mile PR was 35:xx something, and I just broke it by a big margin (although it doesn't count officially if it's not a 5-mile race).

The nasty hill started, and I turned on my imaginary diesel engines (slower, but strong and steady). No lactate!

Mile 6: 6:48

By this time, my Garmin was significantly ahead of the markers, so I knew that my Garmin "average pace" was not real. I stopped paying attention to that and I just focused on the individual mile splits and the total time, doing the math in my head.

This mile was all downhill. Started steep, then it became rolling, but it was steady down. I turned on the rockets, and I ran like crazy. There was only 4 miles left, and I still felt fine (though a bit tired).

Mile 7: 6:12

Kept going fast, but I was a bit afraid that I could still blow up before the end. It would be a shame to ruin such a great race. I started to feel some side stitches (now where do these come from??). The field thinned out, and I found myself a bit alone, though I never lost sight of other runners. There was a group of 10-20 people ahead of me at a distance starting like 20 yards.

Mile 8: 6:35

Around this mile marker I picked up some water (only the second time in the race). I drank a few sips, but not too many, because I knew there was not really enough time left for the water to get to my blood. I poured the rest on my head: it wasn't warm, but I still started to feel hot doing this pace. I don't exactly know why, but I started to feel worse and worse quite quickly. Side stitches started to really hurt, pain in my legs, cardio system felt like working at maximum level. I switched to 2-1 breathing just before the mile marker (I think), and I started to feel like I was falling apart. But then I told myself: "It wouldn't be a real race if I didn't feel like crap close to the end. Just keep it together." I slowed down a bit to maintain my form, and I started to feel better.

Mile 9: 6:42

Not such a bad split after all! (Though remember, my Garmin was behind in distance.) I didn't have much time to contemplate this, because we went through an overpass, and it was steep. It was also windy, and it was after 9 miles of hard running... still I kept on going, and on the top, I decided to start a careful kick. We were supposed to be 1/2 mile from the finish. I passed a few people, and then when we entered the stadium (the finish line was on the grass of the stadium), I started to run really hard. I almost passed another guy at the finish, but he beat me by a fraction of a second. I think it was really cool to run in the stadium, while people were watching in the audience.

Mile 10: 6:23
Last fraction due to Garmin measurement error or not running tangents: 23 seconds

Finish time: 1:06:49

The race had some 7000 participants, so no award for me this time. I was 101th place overall and 16th in my age group.

Needless to say that this is better than my wildest dreams. It corresponds to 6:41 pace. According to this, I should easily go sub-1:30 in the half marathon. The weather was perfect, but the elevation profile (though not very hard) wasn't the easiest. Let me include a picture for the readers to decide:



The most amazing thing is that I didn't mean to peak for this race, and I didn't feel totally spent at the end. I jogged back to my car as a cooldown, and I'm sure I can do all kinds of chores today. The only body parts of mine that hurt now are my nipples (ouch). I forgot to use Body Glide.

I'm looking forward to the 10K two weeks from now. I believe it's a flat course. Maybe I can go sub-40?

Oh, and one more remark. This race gives you a seeded place if you have a 10-miler of 1:05 or better. It sounds quite tempting... I'm not that far.