Today (well, technically yesterday), I ran a 3000 race on the track for fun. It was steaming hot and humid today, but it went just fine. Especially, because I didn't train for this race at all. Just last Wednesday, a running partner of mine from the Wednesday running group talked me into participating - and I thought, what the heck, I swap my Thursday tempo run into Tuesday, I'll warm up, run the race, some more fast running, a cool down, and let's call it a tempo.

2009 Summer Track Series

Presented by Strictly Running & The Columbia Running Club

3000 meters Race Report

I arrived to the track well in time. That point, there was only another girl, who was about to run, so I sort of worried it would be a VERY small race. Later some more people decided to join in, so there were enough runners to occupy the waterfall line across the track - that is like 6 or 7.

I did four laps for warm up, which was a little excessive in the hot weather, but I didn't want to compromise my 5K training. I still considered this to be just a regular tempo run - spiced with a little racing. I felt a bit of stiffness and muscle pain from last weeks high mileage, but it went away with the warm up. I was still sweating from my warm up when we lined up - then off we went.

The 3000 meters starts at the half of the track, because you run seven and a half laps. It immediately goes into a turn. I lined up politely around the middle of the track, but I soon had to realize that I started quite fast compared to the other runners. For the first half of the turn I tried to gauge who runs faster then I, so that I can settle behind the person. All this complication was, because (naturally) I wanted to go to lane 1, the shortest lane - at the moment, after half turn, I still ran in lane 2. Also, I was tied with the leading guy in lane 1, which actually means I was faster than him, because I ran the longer arc. That was when I decided to sprint ahead and occupy the first position.

My time goal was 12:12. McMillan running calculator gave this projected time using my best 5K. I knew it wasn't realistic to beat this time with the preparation, heat, etc. This meant 1:37-1:38 laps.

My half lap time was right on spot. I continued pacing myself carefully. It worked very well, I ran the first few laps at around 1:35-1:38/lap.

There was a serious runner in the field - a high school track runner - but today, he also just raced for fun. He was breathing on my neck for the first few laps. It was a little annoying for one, and I also though how great it would be if he was in front of me, and I could pace myself of him. So at the end of lap 3, I slowed a bit, and let him go. At the exact same moment, he accelerated, and I couldn't follow him. Great. Pain and tiredness started to kick in. It was OK, as long as I didn't remind myself how many laps are left. (We were only halfway!)

I tried to keep our distance limited - not that I had any hope of beating him, but I thought I could run a great time, if I kept close to him. He pulled away for about one lap, but not too far. Our distance grew until about lap 6 to maybe 30 meters. Meanwhile, I slowed down a bit clocking 1:38-1:40/lap. The pain started to become unbearable. However, I was still breathing on pattern.

In lap 6 I tried to accelerate, or at least not to slow down any more. That time I also discovered, that the high school runner didn't increase his lead any more. In fact he seemed to slow down a bit. Before we passed the line that marked the starting of the last lap, I was no more than 20 meters behind him. That was about that same time when my rhythmic breathing fell apart. Torturous pain wandered in every piece of my body, but I had my reward: now I was breathing on the guys neck. At about 200 meters to go he pulled to lane 2 (very polite!) and I passed him. I kept accelerating. I lapped a slow girl the second time. (She didn't pull to lane 2, so I had run around her, which ISN'T nice, considering she was lapped!) I turned to the final straight, I kicked, I sprinted, and I won the race.

I though I would die afterwards, but I didn't even throw up! :) My time was 12:09, which shows that my pacing was quite good! I was completely satisfied. Even though this is not a spectacular time, this was probably the best I could run today. The organizers told me how much they enjoyed watching the race - with a last lap overtaking for the first place. Pretty cool!

I actually ran the other two races (600 meters and 1600 meters), but not nearly as hard. Then I ran a little cool down to finish a total 8000 meters for my workout. It was a good day!

6 x 400 meters yesterday afternoon on the track, plus 1600 meters warm-up, 1600 cool-down and of course the usual 400 meters of recovery between two 400 sprints. I did most sprints in about 1:30. In fact my times were very consistent: 1:33, 1:33, 1:28, 1:32, 1:33, 1:30. I felt great, young, and I wasn't too tired at the end. Today, I feel rested, recovered. I think I'm getting really good (compared to my old self). Unless something unexpected will happen, I bet I will knock down a sub-20-minute 5 kilometers before the end of next year.

If only I could lose that stupid belly fat! I now weigh 163 lbs (74 kg), which - on one hand - sounds really good, because I weighed the same in 2000. (And at one point about 2 years ago I was 85 kg.) I used to climb the peaks of the mountain Bakony in Hungary on my mountain bike weighing 75 kg. But I am more competitive now. I wish I had zero extra fat to carry. I think my ideal weight would be around 70 kg.

What a weird tempo run yesterday! I'm back to running my tempos in the Christine Luff way. That is (for yesterday), 1 mile at 8:45 min/mile, 2.5 at 7:16, 1 mile at 8:45. The first mile was perfect, though I felt slightly sluggish. The second mile was 7:13: close to perfect, just 3 seconds faster than required, but a difference that small doesn't warrant any change in pace. When I went on, I was very surprised to see that my second fast mile was quite a bit faster than I thought. I slowed down a bit, but I still did that mile in 7:07. That is way too fast! I was a bit tired by then, but still perfectly OK, I was still breathing at my usual 2 steps in, 2 steps out. I thought I was slowing down a bit, especially, because it felt I didn't work too hard. I tried to keep my pace, and it was OK until the last 200 meters, when suddenly I had a bad side stitch, my breathing collapsed, and I had hard time keeping my pace on that 200 meters. Then I pushed the "split" button on my watch, and I was utterly surprised to see that I did that last half mile in 3:25! I was the fastest on that stretch!

The sudden tiredness took effect on the last slow mile, and I only got home in 8:57. It is still fine for an uphill mile.

It is amazing that I did the middle fast stretch in 17:45, which is a pace of 7:06 min/mile. That used to be my PR pace on 5K! It felt almost comfortable until the last 200 meters. All this on a Thursday night, after a long, hard workday, with two days of hard and relatively hard running previously.

I think I'm getting into terrific shape. I might have a shot to run close to 20 minutes on August 15 (that would be a dream). If only I could shed that extra 5-10 pounds of fat that I have on me.

Also, I've become to to believe that one day, I will be able to BQ (that is, qualify for the Boston Marathon). When I started to run, I just wanted to finish a marathon. Of course, I needed a specific time goal, because just walking much of the course, or being extremely slow is not hard at all, so it is not a challenge. That was when I decided on 4 hours. BQ for me would be 3:10 for next April, which is still hopeless; after that a time of 3:15 would qualify me for April 2011 (because I'll be 35 in April 2011). That may not be impossible next fall or later.

Nowadays every wuss runs a marathon. They crawl through it in 6 hours and they call themselves marathon runners! This is very annoying and it takes away from the weight of these words : "I ran a marathon". But to qualify for Boston? That still means to be part of a VERY select group.

Too funny. It turned out that I know the guy who ran on lane 4 yesterday. Well at least in the virtual world. He posts on Runner's World forum; we frequently post in the same topic: the sub-22 5K topic.

So I went to the track this afternoon, and found a few people from the local running community over there: they held a (very) small track race series for fun. This was a little bothersome, because they occupied the inner four lanes of the track. They had the 400 meters dash in like 10 minutes when I arrived, and they convinced me to participate - they let me in for free, because there were only 3 men in the race at that point. I thought maybe I could just use the opportunity to measure my 400 meters time. So without any preparation, at the end of a long workday, I ran a 400 meters race today. I guess I should go an and say...

2009 Summer Track Series

Presented by Strictly Running & The Columbia Running Club

400 meters Race Report

I was informed that the race starts in 7-8 minutes, so I had some time to warm up: I did 3 laps around the tracks (roughly 1270 meters, because I had to do 2 laps on the fifth lane, which is thirty-some meters longer). Then, after just a few minutes of delay, we lined up (all 4 of us). I was put on lane 3. I guess the organizer wanted to guess the levels of the runners and order us accordingly: the guy was on lane 1, was quite fast, and I knew the guy on lane 2, who - I know - is pretty good at long distance. He would beat me on any distance over 5 miles. I got lane 3, and a rather slow guy got lane 4. Of course I knew none of these men except for the one who ran on lane 2.

For those, who never saw track running on TV: lane 1 starts behind the other lanes, and then each lane is little further ahead to balance out the different lengths of the lanes. So the guy on lane 1 has the best position, because he can see everyone else. Also, if he passed another runner, he is definitely ahead of him.

We started the race. There is not much tactics on 400 meters. You just run like crazy. After 100 meters, your oxygen starts to run out, after 200 meters you start to hurt, after 300 meters, you want to stop more than anything, you gasp for air, and you think you will die, and then you have to sprint 100 more meters hard.

After 100 meters, I saw I was approaching the guy in lane 4, and I passed him at 150. Which was a really bad sign for him - we only did one turn at that point. At 200 meters, the guy from lane 1 passed me. I tried to hang on, but he was much faster than I. So I just ran the third 100 fairly fast, but not in suicidal pace. I was able to accelerate for the forth 100, and I actually got a little closer to lane 1 guy. He won the race with 1:06, I got second with 1:08. The other two guys were far behind us. Lane 2 guy (I'm supposed to know his name, but I'm quite bad with names) seemed to take it quite easy, and run like in a long distance event. Lane 4 guy was just probably slow.

My time is quite pathetic compared to competitive 400 meters runners, but according to Runners World's VO2 Max calculator, it shows 59.2 ml/kg/min, which is pretty good. That would make me capable to run a Boston Marathon Qualifier, if there were no other bottlenecks. :)

End of race report

Well, my interval training was a bit gruelling after this race, and I didn't quite hit my times on the subsequent 431 meter sprints (in lane 5), but I wasn't very far off. Anyway, I have to make a note to myself to change the interval training for Thursday, because the track series will take place on the university track every Tuesday for some time now. And I like to run in lane 1, 400 meters.

OK, I admit it, I have a running problem. Remember last week, that I decided I would skip a week of running after my race? I didn't run on Sunday and Monday, and I rode my bicycle both days. It was fun, and I though I would do that the whole week. But then I thought about the upcoming training for my marathon, then the time before I would start it, then I thought it would be so cool to have a sub-21 minute 5K time, and that I might be able to do it with some specific training before my marathon training starts - one thing led to another, and this morning, when I left home, I threw my running outfit into my backpack that I bring to work, and now I know that at 5:30, instead of going home, I will head to the university track to get in some speed training. I will probably race again another 5K on August 15 in Prosperity, SC.

I will do two fast workouts a week following Christine Luff's advanced 5K training schedule from running.about.com. I start it at week 4, because I only have 5 weeks until the race. She makes you run a track interval training AND a tempo run every week. Hal Higdon's plan, which I followed previously, will make you run intervals one week and tempo the next. Though Higdon makes you run fast on Saturday every other week, I still think that his plan is not challenging enough, and contains too many "junk miles". Also, I like that Luff's plan has a 5-mile run on Wednesdays, which will coincide the 5-mile group run, and he doesn't make you "test run" a 5K - I don't need that, I just did it on Saturday.

I've just seen my official time posted: 21:17. It appears that now they included the guy who ran 18:02, so everyone was shifted down by one position. I still have my doubts, I'm rather sure I ran into the chute at 21:10, and I don't think I can be 7 seconds wrong. Also, I can't believe I ran the last, downhill mile MUCH slower than mile 2 (assuming that the mile 2 marker was correct). I'll use 21:17 as my PR for now, but I'm eager to break it, so I can forget about this race.

(Maybe it would be better to prepare a little more seriously instead of praying before the race.)

South Carolina Peach Festival 5K Race Report
(Goal: 21:00, 6:45 min/mile. Worst case goal: 22:00, 7:04 min/mile.)

I had to get up at 4 AM and leave home at 5 AM in the morning, because the race was about two hours drive from Columbia in Gaffney, SC. I wanted to be there at 7 AM, because the 5K was scheduled to start at 7:30. I was leaving the apartment complex at 5:10, ten minutes late, so I drove a little faster than I should have - but it was quite OK, as nobody was on the road on Saturday morning at 5 o'clock.

I arrived to the place a few minutes before 7. The temperature was perfect: high 60s. There were already quite a few people around. I found a parking place, then the usual rounds: line in the bathroom, Powerbar, water, warmup. This time I ran a few 100 meter (or so) sprints aftre my usual warmup to get my body to speed.

At 7:30 sharp, we lined-up at the start line. I positioned myself close to the line; tried to use my experience to guess my expected overall position and I let so many runners ahead of me (I was quite on spot). The race director told a short prayer (not the unusual in the Deep South). I do prefer keeping sports events secular, but she kept is short and simple, so it was fine.

The first mile was mostly uphill with some steep parts (which I knew), and I tried to pace myself close to my VO2 max by feeling. Everything was fine: I did work hard, but I didn't kill myself, and on the top of the hill, at the 1-mile marker, my time was 6:55. I was happy with that, 10 seconds off my pace, but on the top of the hill. My body had been working at ninety-some percent capacity, but I knew that a flat part followed.

The second mile was a bit of struggling. A few people passed me, which is never a great feeling. I tried to keep up with some of them, but I realized, it was wiser not to try too hard. I think my pace was fine: these people, who passed me, were running negative splits (which is fine, too). An old woman passed me by cutting two corners a few meters on the sidewalk. She ended up winning her age group. Probably the few meters didn't matter, but I was still pissed. I hate cheaters. It was obvious that the race course was measured on the road. The marking was on the road. So she was either really stupid or a cheater.

I have reasons to believe that the second mile marker was incorrectly placed. According to my stopwatch, I ran the second mile in 6:23 (seems too fast) and the third mile at a pace 7:01 (seems too slow). Yeah, I did fade a little bit by the end, but it was all downhill, so if nothing else, I certainly wasn't slower on that part. I think my second mile must have been 6:4x, as well as my third, mostly downhill mile.

The downhill was nice, but I was tired, and I wished I didn't go out that fast (again, grrr...). I changed to a faster breathing pattern. I did a have power for a weak kick. I didn't see the finish clock until I was very close, because there were a lot of trees around a finish line, and when I first caught sight of it, it just turned disappointingly to 21 minutes. I was in within seconds of that, and my official time is 21:04. (I actually think it was more like 21:10, when I ran under the finish clock, but maybe the finish line was bit sooner than I thought. It wasn't too clearly marked, there was no gate, just a couple of traffic cones and some plastic tape marking the chute.)

I basically ran my goal pace, which is nice, except the lingering suspicion, that my official time or the official distance is a bit off. The reason I think that is that the organization was a bit chaotic in some respect. At least one guy said, he ran 18:02, but he wasn't on the finisher's list. A middle aged woman accidentally ran 5K instead of 10. OK, that may very well be her fault. At least when I passed the branching point of the 5K and the 10K route, the volunteers pointed out the directions very clearly. Also, there were markings on the pavement. Besides, the woman behaved like an ass, cursing at the organizers. Come on, she finished the 5K with some 30 minutes, so it's not like her world record attempt went wrong! Her behaviour was definitely not justified.

In any case, I definitely PR'd, and at this point I probably can't run much faster than this. Maybe on flat course, at 55 degrees, sea level, more sleep, less driving, I could run somewhat better, but I think I still couldn't break 20 minutes.

I waited a looong time for the award ceremony. I sat down by a ditch to cheer the slower 5K runners and the really fast 10K runners. I talked with a guy who ran his first race after an Achilles tendon rupture. He told me about the story of his injury. Scary. I will always have to remember, that it is better to run slowly that risking injury.

A suspected that I was relatively high in my age group, and indeed: another 3rd place in the 30-34 year old male group! In reality, I was only 5th, but the first two in my age group were among the first three finishers overall, so they are ineligible for age group awards. I collected my ribbon and left for home.

Last hard workout today: 4-mile tempo run. I felt pretty good, even though it is still damn hot (80 F = 27 C) at 10 o'clock in the evening. Tomorrow is an easy 2 miles with the group (in 90 degrees probably), then 2 days of rest. Saturday, before the crack of the dawn, I am heading out to Gaffney, SC to be at the start line of the 5K by 7 in the morning.

Since the strap of my wristwatch has been broken, I struggled with it carrying it in various ways. When I just went to my everyday business, I didn't even carry a watch: my cell phone shows the time anyway. But I don't carry a cell phone on my runs, besides, it doesn't have a chronometer, so on my runs, I tried to carry my watch in my pocket, or tied to the cord of my shorts. My best running shorts don't have a pocket, and the cord solution is quite inconvenient.

I have had this watch for about a year, and I absolutely loved it. It was a very cheap one I bought in Target, maybe for like $12. It was a basic, no-name sports watch, and when I bought it, I didn't even think about using it for sports. I just liked to be able to measure time exactly, to the second. Then, about two months ago, the strap caught the side of the canoe during an (otherwise great) canoe trip, which broke the clasp, some parts of which immediately fell into the murky water. It was of course unrepairable, or at least not under $12. But I hate to throw away an otherwise perfectly good watch, so I tried to get by with it.

The last straw that broke the camel's back was that on my long run on Sunday, as I carried my watch in my Fuel Belt, a button got pressed accidentally, and for a while I thought I lost the time measurement for the run. Then I figured out, that the button was the "time split" button, so it was all well, but it is clearly just a matter of time until some data loss occurs. So I did my research in the weekend, and I bought this watch. It has everything I can think of I would need, and I actually only paid $35 for it in Wal-mart. It is a great watch, and most excitingly, it has a memory for 30 splits! So when I run intervals, I won't have to stop after every lap to record my time with paper and pencil. I also think it extremely cool-looking. Very light, comfortable, and hopefully it will last: after all it is a Timex.

After my race on Saturday, I'll take a week off. I'll do some cycling, and maybe swimming (though quite unlikely - I don't like to swim), but no running for a week. It will be an experiment. I have nagging pains at many places in my body, and I want to give them some time to heal. I have had calf tightness/Achilles tendon sensitivity/Plantar Fasciitis issues with my left leg/foot since March. That is the most bothersome. It usually goes away after I warm up, but sometimes, especially when I get up in the morning, I'm limping at home from one room to another.

Maybe I should skip more than a week... I don't have to start training for my marathon until August. I certainly shouldn't stop running before the actual marathon training, but a little break won't hurt.

Yesterday I looked back in my training log about my progress since I started last December. I wasn't enormously satisfied with the progress in any areas, but one thing sort of stood out that I'm quite proud of. Even since I started running, I never skipped more than 2 days in a row. In other words, on any consecutive 3 days, I ran at least once. This includes Christmas, New Year, vacation during winter break, and two multiple day travels, one to Colorado and one to Kentucky! I always had my running gear with me when I left the city for a longer period of time.

OK, I did it. I learned a thing or two. First of all, I should always double check my computations! A few miles into the run I realized that the route I decided to run is actually a mile longer! Also, I didn't realize that I could cut a mile easily, but maybe because I was distracted by the fact, that all the landmarks that I wrote to me wristband are wrong. So I ended up running 13.5 miles and then walked home (1/2 mile).

Speaking of wristbands. Mine was on a printed piece of paper. It doesn't matter that I put a Scotch tape to the outside of it, once it got soaked with sweat, the tape came of, like it had no sticky material on it. After about the 6 mile mark, I ran with the dissolving wristband in my left hand (and not on my left wrist).

Otherwise things were OK. It was brutally hot this weekend. I ran from 5 AM to 7 AM, and it was 80 F. That was lowest temperature I could find. I felt fine until mile 12, then the last 1.5 miles was hard, but even that wasn't extremely bad. And my time was fine (1:56:13). The projected half marathon time is 1:52:34.

I still don't know how it is possible to run double of this distance...

I've just arrived from my pre-run bike ride. I rode the long route I plan to ride tomorrow morning. It is going to be 21.1 kilometers, which is exactly half of a marathon distance. This is going to be a big jump for me, as my longest run so far was only 16.5 kilometers, it it should be OK: I haven't run this week that much (sort of like a taper), and I haven't run in the last two days. I will try to run it relatively fast, so that I would do it in 1 hour and 55 minutes. The idea is that this should be the next stepping stone to the 4 hour marathon.

Why the change of plans? I want to race, that's why. So instead of spending two more weeks training for a half marathon time trial (that is, I run as fast as I can, but it is not an official race), I will just run my minimum goal on the half marathon distance tomorrow. I won't try to run faster than that, and after I'll have done it, I will spend three weeks to prepare for a 5K where I will try to break 21 minutes.

My goal for tomorrow is 1:55, but I will tolerate time up to 2 hours. If I can't do the run in two hours, then I'll cancel the 5K plans, and go back to work on my endurance.

BTW, I met a nice guy on the road today. He stopped to check on me when I was collecting tree branches to mark a spot by the road (the spot that is 6.5 miles from my home), asking me if I was OK. Then we rode back to the city together, talking. He is a mechanic and works in one of the bicycle shops in town, which I visited many times. After he told me who he was, I realized that I even talked to him, when I shopped for my bicycle. We stopped by his house in town, and he invited me to taste his home made beer. So talked like a half an hour in his house, sipping his beer. His house was a dump (I almost felt uncomfortable), but his beer was very delicious. He is a very nice guy.

I'll write tomorrow about how my run went. If I won't post, I may have died. :)

My training wasn't exactly going as planned. Hectic schedule made me postpone (alright: skip) some of my runs, so I decided to go slowly and repeat some of my training weeks. Therefore I'm two weeks behind now. I repeated the feast of running 10 miles on Sunday. I was easier than last time, even considering the terrible diarrhea that caught me after 5 miles (lucky that Riverfront Park has nice restrooms). I was somewhat slower than last time, even if I subtract the 4 minutes spent on the toilet, but that's fine. I was still well above the minimum pace.

I'm up to some crazy (to me at least) weekly mileage. Last week I ran 28.2 miles (45.4 km). Considering that I ran 5 times, this means an average of about 9 kilometers per day!

I went to group run last week, and it was a lot of fun! I'll go again today.

Also, I bought a new pair of running shoes on-line, it arrives today. It was very cheap, so they might be crappy, but I decided to risk it.

New distance PR on Sunday: 10 miles. It is not getting any easier. I have had aches in body, especially my left calf, which almost made me stop. It got a little better (paradoxically) by the end of the run.

To top the pleasure, there was a thunderstorm and pouring rain from mile 6 to mile 8, and light rain to mile 9. It didn't matter too much. My only worry was the lightning, because I ran along trees by the river, but the thunderstorm actually wasn't that close, only the rain.

I spent yesterday recovering, and today a 5 miler "easy" run is waiting for me. Some speed training on Wednesday on the high school track, another short maintenance run, and then a replay of this brutal weekend (5 miles fast on Saturday, 10 miles slowly on Sunday).

An alligator in Columbia!

Seriously: last Sunday, on my long run, I saw a gator swimming in the Columbia Canal. It wasn't huge, but it wasn't tiny either. And no, I wasn't hallucinating. I've been only 1/2 mile into the run, and other people saw it, too. It was absolutely definitely an alligator! Wow!

Get in the Pink 10K Race Report

I got up early in the morning, so that body would have enough time to completely wake up by the start of the race. I'm not a morning person, and I have to be especially careful with morning races (and most are morning races indeed).

We arrived a few minutes before 8am. The race was scheduled to start at 8:30. I warmed up nicely, and I even found a port-a-potty at a construction site nearby, so I didn't have to wait in line at the race. I met a colleague, Mark, and his fiance before the race. They were planning to run at her pace together, so we agreed that I would move up closer to the start line. I wanted to run the race in 45 minutes.

The elevation profile was not favorable to me. We started with a 3 mile descent and then we had to climb back up. Knowing this, I tried to start strong, and I almost kept up with the leaders for the first half mile or so. By that time, I found my own pace and the leaders started to pull away. I was pushing the pace, fully understanding that I had to do well on the first half to perform well overall.

Very soon, I was completely alone. Most of the 230 participant were behind me, some ahead of me, and I was running my own race. To my disappointment, there were no mile markers, so I could only guess how fast I was. Then finally at mile 3, they put out one mile marker (that was all for the whole course). I was below 20 minutes there and I was quite happy with my time. More exactly I was slightly worried that I was too fast, but I felt fine, and I just had passed a big guy in a "US Army" T-shirt, which gave me some confidence.

Then the uphill section started, and I tried to run by effort level, sometimes slowing down significantly. I think I slowed down too much here, I over worried my pace/endurance. I wanted to ride the course on the previous day on my bicycle, but I sort of ran out of time, and I also didn't want to ride too much on the day before the race (the distance of the course from my place is at least 10-15 miles). So I didn't really know how much was left.

The finish line was long straight street, and the finish was at least 1/2 mile ahead. I was still completely alone, in fact before tuning into the long finish line, I had lost sight of every other runner. Then, when I knew how far I was, I started to push, but it was too late: my stopwatch turned 44 minutes and I had no hope of getting in within 45 minutes, or even any close to that. I pushed very hard at the end. Seeing my time and feeling the pains in my body, I almost stopped 200 yards before the finish line, and I had to remind myself that quote by Lance Armstrong: "Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever."

My family was cheering for me at the finish line! They were very nice, and my kids were very touching as they yelled: "Go Daddy!" This was the first race of mine that they visited. (Well technically the second, but they missed my finish on the first one.) Unfortunately I got in with a disappointing 46:40, way behind my original time goal. This was 14th place overall and 4th in my age group (30-39). Only age group winners and overall winners received awards, so there was nothing for me on Saturday.

Even though the placements don't seem to be too bad, the time speaks for itself. The only reason the placements are OK is that this was a small race, at least not too many serious runners came. I have to figure out the reasons. I really think I didn't leave everything on the course, I should have run up those hills faster. A guy passed me at around mile 4 (already at the uphill section). I talked to him at the finish line, and he had a time 44: something. He wasn't running that fast, I could have easily followed him, but I was afraid I would blew out before the finish line. The fact that I was able to push that hard just before the finish probably shows that I didn't push hard enough before that.

It was also the heat. I am still not acclimatized to the newly arrived summer. It was only maybe 75 degrees, an even in the sun on the pavement, it couldn't have been more than 80. I endured much hotter temperatures in my cycling days. Maybe running is different, more intensive, and there is less air cooling effect.

I've been bugged with Achilles tendon sensitivity, too little sleep (finals' week at work), and hectic schedule recently, and I had to skip some of my training runs, and I had to move other around the day.

Or maybe I should just stop whining and accept that you can't run perfectly every time. So just shut up and go back to train.

Tomorrow is my 10K. I'm quite excited, almost unexpectedly excited. This race is only part of a half marathon training program, but it is in Columbia, so for the first time, my family is going to cheer for me!

An unfortunately timed Achilles tendon sensitivity early this week made me train much less since Monday, which is probably not good for performance, but we will see tomorrow. Also, I had to grade a ton of final exams, so I haven't had enough sleep. But I think I should in good form tomorrow. I feel strong and healthy!

Computational skills come handy when you train. Last week I had a run that I was supposed to run at my half marathon pace at 7:35 minutes/mile. When I reached the 1/2 mile mark, I though I was pretty fast, especially because the first half mile of this course is downhill. I saw my stopwatch showing 3:18, and I got terrified: 3:18 times 2 is 7:36, so I'm already slower than I should be, and this was only the downhill part! I better run fast!

I didn't realize my computational error until I reached the 1 mile mark, and I saw I did the first mile in 6:35. Meanwhile, I kept asking myself "Why is it so hard to run at this pace?". Needless to say, I couldn't keep this pace for 13.1 miles! But it did give me some confidence, that 7:35 could be feasible 6 weeks from now.

I paid the price on the following day: my longest run up till now with 8 miles. I ran early afternoon, the hottest part of the day, and it just got really hot here in Columbia. Temperatures in the high 80s, and I there was no shadow. I was really suffering, and I was badly dehydrated when I got home. I know this because I lost 6 pounds during that run. This is dangerous, I should be more careful. From now on, I'll do my long runs with a fuel belt (which I just ordered).

I'll start a mini-taper, because I run a 10K race on Saturday. I will try to run 45 minutes. At 7:14 per mile, it will be a challenge, but according to coach-math-magic, it is about the best time I should be capable of.