2011 Philadelphia Marathon

So two mornings ago I woke up and did the Philly Marathon.  Saturday, the day before, I took the train to Philly from South Jersey where my family was visiting the in-laws.  (special thanks t0 Pete - for updating texting the Penn State score updates when I was riding a bus through south-central Jersey and adding 40 minutes to the commute).  Because of the train delay I headed out a little late to the convention center to get the packet - and the last 3:35 pace band before the cliff-bar pace people closed up shop.  This, it turns out, was great fortune - since I was waffling between a 3:40 and 3:30 pace - it never occured to me to split the difference.  Leaving the expo, I then crossed the street to Wawa to buy some fuel - and, it turns out, dinner.  Pre-marathon fuel:  Wawa pretzel, Wawa chicken salad on whole grain bun, Greek yogurt and diet ginger ale.  Not exactly the pasta feast I was planning - but it seemed a like a lot of carbs with enough protein thrown in.  The Wawa pretzel, in particular, isn't something I'd eat every day - but it seems as though they did try to have some nutritional content - and it had a butt-load of calories - I don't remember exactly - but something like 600 or so.

The next morning I awoke ready to go at 4:00 am - more or less on my own without the alarm.  I headed down to the special runners breakfast buffet and got toast with peanut butter, yogurt, fruit and drank lots of coffee - in an attempt to clear the system as much as possible.  About 6:10, in the dim dawn light, I headed out - with about 27,000 other runners - to the start outside the famous Philly art museum.  I got my bag checked in and did some dynamic stretches before heading to the black starting area.  Not long of a wait and the race was off.

I love the first few miles of a marathon - very easy pace - lots to look around at - and the miles really just fly by.  The course heads past city hall then turns south along the bank of the Deleware river before curling back in to the city center.  There - the crowds pick up and I really had to focus on not pushing the pace too much.  At about the one hour part - you head out of downtown to the 'University City' area - and some great crowd support from those Drexel Dragons (thanks students).

At this point, I was just off the 3:35 pace band (8:12 miles), but I had to stop and pee and also stopped to stretch - since I was starting to worry about my groins a little.  As hard as it was to do, I stopped and stretched on multiple occasions.  I could really feel the groins starting to act up as I headed up the hill by the zoo - and especially on the descent.  In retrospect - this is probably what hurt me two years ago - I'm glad I had the experience on my side and took that part relatively slowly and gingerly.

However, by halfway, I'd probably dropped to over a minute off the 3:35 pace (mentally - I knew that was 3:37).  I felt relieved though - because it seemed as though my body was going to keep it together and not break down.  I picked it up the pace then since I felt pretty good and wanted to try and 'race' this race.  The next 5 miles tick away - mostly flat - along the Schuykill river - and I managed to get very close to the 3:35 pace.  However by  mile 18 my legs were ready to stop racing.  I slowly started to give up time again against the pace band.  Rounding the 20 mile marker in Manyunk - I knew I'd be now racing/struggling to stay below 3:40.  Along the last few miles coming in I noticed a lot of runners walking or stopped along the side.  So I just kept the legs moving.  My pace coming in was slow.  Probably 8:40s or so.  It was funny - I would notice someone up ahead shuffling along at a ridiculously slow pace - only to realize that I wasn't gaining on them and probably looked equally ridiculous.  Nevertheless, as the crowds grew again near the end, I tried to pump those arms and at least look like a serious runner as I neared the finish.  I knew I'd done better and the final time was 3:38:49 - overall about a 8:21 pace.  A solid 15 minutes shaved off of my only other attempt at this distance.

Found wife, friends and drank beer at Monks.   A great day!

Overall, it was a great race experience.  I'm glad to finally have a good marathon under my belt.  The time and pace was good, but not great - certainly room for improvement.  What is amazing is the training plan I used maxed out at 31.5 miles/week running.  The monster month mileage hovered around 30 miles/week with the x-training making up for the 'missing' miles.  I did use one of the easier versions of the FIRST plan.  And I was lucky enough to have a friend at work willing to do the tough intervals (off-track), tempo runs and shorter long runs with me.  The big bonus of this plan is that the x-training - in my case swimming, weights (via 1 hour dvd workout) and some biking - had me feeling much stronger heading into the marathon.  Also, because the mileage is more manageable - I didn't overeat and probably ran the race ~155 -  a good 10 pounds lighter than 2 years ago.  Having said that - I'd have to do a more difficult - slightly higher mileage version - to really improve my time.  But, I'll obsess over that later.

Final 2 thoughts.  A big thank you to race organizers, volunteers and the thousands of fans that showed up to cheer us on.  And on a sadder note, I'd like to offer my condolences to the families of the 2 runners that passed away near the finish of Sunday's race.  Truly horrible news and my heart goes out to their families.

Twilight Trail Run 2011.

This last weekend kicked off with the Twilight Trail Run out at Bluff Point. This is usually one of my favorite runs of the year and this year did not disappoint. This marks the 6th time I've run this race and the second time that I've been bothered by allergies. My pace for the previous five years are: 7:42, 7:31, 7:15, 7:39 and 7:16. This year I ran the race in 55:22 - good for a 7:28 pace. I started the first 2 miles with a friend who said, after 2 miles that we were doing 7:35s. Since I was feeling crappy all week - I didn't want to push it too hard early and then struggle for the last half our - but in retrospect we were probably going a little slow at the start. I picked it up a little at that point and had the enjoyable experience of picking off people for the next 5 miles. In the end, my pace was about 10-15 seconds/miles slower than normal - but I think that was pretty good considering the allergies.

After the race I had a great time catching up with an old friend, drinking beer and then heading to Ortega's for a kick-butt chili relleno. Bascially just a perfect night for racing, drinking and hanging out - I need more of those in life.

Stonington Bearathon

I signed up for this one - I thought it was 'beerathon'. Turned out to be 5k race around Mason's Island. I finished in 21:40 - good for a 7:00 min/mile pace. I felt horrible - I think I have a mold allergy. And, although it wasn't hot out - the humidity must've been pushing 100%. I started at 7:00 min/mile pace and new I was in trouble after the 1/2 mile mark - I felt the legs starting to get sore and very sluggish. It's been a weird allergy - it doesn't really knock me out - but certainly keeps me from feeling good. Hopefully I can shake it by Friday. I hit 1 mile at about 7 min/mile pace and 2 miles a little over 14 minutes. Then I really struggled for the last mile - I could feel my back really tightening up - but managed to hold the 7 pace till the end. It's actually a little encouraging - not having your best and clicking off 7s. Results are already in! Great job Snerro dudes. It's funny - 2010 was all about redemption - not a single bad race, 2 PRs. 2011 is starting to feel like a bit of a struggle. Hopefully I'll be able to get healthy and go on a role.

Colchester Half

Today I ran the Colchester Half Marathon. I've had virtually no training, I really just wanted to catch up with one of my work running buddies who'd recently left. Nevertheless, I managed 1:49:19 - about 8:20 min/mile. Not bad - although it's a good min/mile slower than my best effort at this distance - it's actually my 2nd best time out of 5 half marathon efforts. So in that regard, I'm pleased. The course is tough - very hilly throughout with about 4 fairly steep climbs. I hit 8 miles at 1:05 (8:07), but then needed 44 minutes to cover the last 5.1 miles (8:38 pace). There were a lot of friendly folks from work there as well. One lent me money for the registration, another ran with me at the end even though she easily could've torched me at the end. Greg, my friend from work invited me back to his house after the run and his wife cooked up one of the best omlettes I've ever eaten. All in all, a great day.

A Good Half.

This morning I headed over to Rocky Neck state park for the Niantic Bay half marathon. Since I decided not to do full this year - my goals have been to (1) lose a little weight, (2) gain some strength and (3) run a good half marathon. I had done 3 previously, but never as a goal race for the season. This year it all came together as I did 1:36:08 ~ 7:20 min/mile pace. That's well over 10 minutes faster than previous attempts! I ran a pretty nice even pace and felt strong throughout. I even passed a few people on the last few miles. Confidence is a funny thing - I think last years marathon made this much easier from a mental standpoint. Even after feeling like I was working hard after 2 or 3 miles, I still kept pushing - I wasn't going to have a bad day - and I ended up running a very good half.

Beach Run and 10x400s

Monday I headed out to Misquamicut for the end of summer beach run. They flipped the course again - I believe because a fairly large dead sea turtle washed ashore and they didn't want people running into it??? Anyway the flipped course and the fact I brought my Asics instead of my beater shoes meant that I was going barefoot. I hit the 1.5 mile turnaround in 10:48 and then eased up slightly to finish the race in 21:50. A sub 7:20 effort - could have went faster but I didn't want to trash my toes on the sand like I did a few years ago.

Yesterday I did 10x400s at the ConnCollege track. Each one was around 1:30 (6 min/mile pace) and the average below that - so it felt good and pretty fast. One more long run and I'm pretty much done with this training program!

Tri Results

Yesterday I completed the Pfi Sprint Triathlon at Eastern Point Beach. I did about average: 1 hour 21 minutes and 36 seconds (10th out of 23 men). Unlike previous years I had a decent bike, great T2 transition and a pretty good run. I struggled mightily in the water - especially considering that I've been swimming all winter/spring this year. The breathing just wasn't there. The swim took 14:42 - which was the 15th/23 men. I was hoping to be at least in the top half - if not the top 3rd. I didn't have a wet suite which may account for some of it - but I think I should've done about one minute better based on the times of people I know I can swim with. Oh well, something to work on. On the plus side, I did much better on the bike. I did 41:54 which was good for 12th/23. Not great - but not horrible. My T2 was pretty much the fastest - about 30 seconds faster than anyone else - since I didn't have to switch shoes (mentally - I think that puts me up into the top 10 or so). The run started very hard - probably > 8 min/mile pace for the first mile, but once I caught my legs - I had a decent final 2 miles and finished strong: 7:38 min/mile pace. Of my 3 attempts at this try - this is by far my best attempt - so I am happy about that. It certainly is a lot harder that your standard run race.

I've taken the week pretty easy leading up to this. Monday I did my final BRICK: 47 minutes on the bike and 17 minutes running. Tuesday I did 6x400s at ConnCollege. They felt great. I can't wait to get back to the track in 2 weeks. I was suppose to do 8x400s - but I wanted to take it a little easy just 2 days before the tri. I have a 8 mile run tomorrow or Sunday and I'm done for the week.

John and Jesse Kelly Ocean Beach Race.

This morning I headed over to Ocean Beach New London for the 48th annual John and Jesse Kelly Ocean Beach run. 11.6 miles - usually brutally hot - but very nice and dry this morning. I ran with a friend from work through the first 8 miles at a 8 min/mile pace before moving a bit toward the end to end up with a 7:48 pace (~1 hour 30 minutes and change). It felt great and very relaxed - my first run of any distance in many months. This caps my first week of my 8 week half-marathon training plan. The next 2 weeks will be a little weird because of the triathlon - I may not do another run longer than 8 miles for 3 weeks - but I'll be doing enough biking and swimming to - hopefully - make up for it.

10K PR!

Last night I finally accomplished what I set out to do last year - run a fast 10K and set my PR for that distance. For some reason this area has races of 5.5, 4.75, 7.4, 11.2, and a lot of 5 milers - but very few 10Ks. I attempted a hot hilly 10k last year up near Middletown and finished with a 46:50 time - a little frustrated and looking to do better. I knew I was in pretty good racing shape after last weeks Twilight Trail Run - so last night was it.

The conditions were near perfect and the race started out fast but I was feeling like I had a good rythmn. The course is absolutely beautiful and I soon found myself keeping the pace - sub 7 and passing lots of people between mile 1 and 4 - then it strung out a bit. I managed to pass one more dude before getting caught at the line by someone who had way too much left in the tank- but that's racing. At least he wasn't in my age group. I finished 3rd with a 42:57 and a 6:55 pace. A PR that'll be challenging to beat.

Race: Twilight Trail Run 2010

Last night was my 5th consecutive Twilight Trail Run. I had some concerns leading into the race: sore legs from a track workout on Wednesday and an upset stomach. I had thought the track work would've been easy: 8x150 meters - which I did in ~24-30 seconds. It felt fast for me but a 30 second 150 is only a 5:20 min/mile pace. My right groin felt very tight after the run, and into Thursday - and still tight on Friday. I felt it during the race, but it never went *pang* on me. The race itself felt great. I managed to keep up a pretty decent pace the entire race. I think I have the course down pretty well - a little easy going up the hills and then run the flat parts - which there are a lot of - very hard. I ended up at 53:48 - a 7:16 pace - 4 seconds off of my best time from 2 years ago. Great raffle, organization - very good race. I also woke up today weighting 152.6 - my lowest in years. I certainly have met my goal of dropping weight and feeling stronger.

Clamdigger 2010

After a week of sloth-like behavior in Arizona with my family, I finally got back to running. Today was the WTAC's Clamdigger 5 mile road race. I headed out at 9:45 for the mercifully late 11:00 start. It was a good day for the race - cold, but not much wind, and Misquamicut seems to have dried out from our recent flood. I started the race too fast - a 6:45 first mile which I knew I couldn't keep up over 5 miles and I wasn't too disappointed when I hit the second mile at 14 even. I managed to hold on to the 7:15 pace each mile until the end - a 35:46 - good for a 7:09 min/mile pace. I'm ok with that - though not thrilled. I was also a little bummed at the 9th place age group finish - some fast dudes out at those WTAC races.

Tarzan Brown Run 2009

Today I ran over to the Tarzan Brown Mystic River Run to run this race for the 8th consecutive year. Since I don't want to look up the history every year I'll summarize this officially in my blog:

1. 2002 - first race and pretty good considering my training: 41:54 - 7:36 pace.
2. 2003 - 44:48 and 8:20 pace - disappointing - probably got me training more though.
3. 2004 - 43:02 and 7:49 - another ho-hum year.
4. 2005 - 39:14 and 7:08 - first year of Julia's life - first year on the running team - best time yet.
5. 2006 - 37:27 and 6:48 - a remarkably good run. My best ever, if not for...
6. 2007 - 37:21 and 6:47 - best run ever? maybe.
   
7. 2008 - 37:40 and 6:51 - still pretty good, but starting to float up.
8. 2009 - read on...
   

This year I had a lot going against me. First I did 22 miles on Friday and my legs felt a little sore still today. I'll combine this with reason 1a - lots of mileage this week including 3 miles during my race warmup. Second - and probably worse, I went to a Halloween party last night and ended up with 4 or 5 pints of Beamish - not horrible, but not great. Thirdly I haven't done much speed work this year. I really did push the last 2 miles - but really couldn't close past the 7-minute/mile pace. So I ended up doing roughly 38:45 - or 7:03 min/miles. Really not bad at all - but this has always been my best race - so even with all the reasonable excuses - a little underwhelming.

Half Marathon; Half-Way Point. Week 8 is in the Books

Yesterday I headed out to Giant's Neck in East Lyme for the Niantic Bay 1/2 Marathon. I did this race 2 years ago with 'eh' results. My pace then was 8:21 - 21 seconds slower than the New Haven 20K I did a month earlier. Nevertheless, that was my fastest half (of the 2 I'd attempted) and therfore my PR. So yesterday, I needed to do 15 miles - so I started early - an easy 2 miler warm-up. The entire morning was rainy and although it felt cold out of the car, it actually felt a little humid running. Since I have a 18 miler scheduled for Friday, I didn't want to go out too fast - combined with the congested start, put me at 18:30 after only 2 miles. I decided to pick it up then, and probably past a good 1/2-2/3 of the field coming up from the back over the last 11 miles - which I finished at an 8:16 pace - so the overall pace was 8:24. Just off my pace from 2 years ago. For the first time ever, I actually regret going out too slow - but feel pretty good about the strong finish. It was a great feeling peeling of good-solid-fast miles for over 10 miles.

I'm going to count it as my 'marathon pace' run for this week, as well as my long run for last week - since I don't want to do 2 hard workouts between the long runs - which are only 5 days apart. So that'll mean I'll do my Yasso800s and an easy pace Bluff Point run on Tuesday/Wednesday; long run Friday and either 7 or 8 miles around home on Sunday. This week I finished with 38 miles. An extra rest day is in order since both achillies are sore.

CVS 5K Race

I rounded out this week's mileage with a trip up to Providence for the CVS 5K national championship. I finished a little less than 8 minutes behind this years champ - Matt Tegenkamp, but first on my team at a pokey 21:04 [unofficial]. The other 2 runners were ~21:17 and ~21:38, so were probably not getting the shoe prize [update: finished 9th out of 45 teams; all 3 other Pfizer teams finished 1st in there respective divisions]. Anyway - If I'm about right on the time, that'd be about 20 seconds off last years pace, and a 6:48 pace. I'm actually happy with that since I was worried I'd be more around 7:00s. I'll update with final results when they're posted.

Also - 30 miles this week - last time we'll be this low for a while.

Misquamicut Beach Run

Today I loaded up the kids, picked up the wife and headed to Misquamicut for 3 mile beach run. We stopped and picked up a Ventrano's pizza on the way and made it there by 5:00. I was hoping earlier - but the kids were just there Saturday for the hurricane bill mega waves. Unfortunately for the run, the waves softened up the beach for much of the run making it feel like running through quick sand (ok, i've never run through quick sand - but that's what I imagine it must feel like). It seems as though most of my runs have had some sort of lame excuse - but the truth is that's only 1/2 of it. Even with the quick sand - I made the 1.5 mile turn at 10:45, but needed another 12 minutes to do the last half. Last year I did the run in 20:18 and dropped to 22:45 this year. That's fine. I can live with that. We had a great time and that's what is important.

JP Morgan Corporate Challenge

Yesterday was the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge in Central Park. I haven't faired well in this event in past years and this year was no exception. I ran a 25:35, a 7:16 min/mile pace over the 3.5 mile course. Putting that in perspective, that's about one minute slower than last year (a much hotter day) and 2 minutes slower than the fall Championship. I think being sick earlier in the week had something to do with it - but it's disappointing nonetheless. It was one of those races where, during the run, I was questioning why I want to do races - similar to the Niantic Bay 1/2 a few years ago.

Twilight Trail Run

Last night was my fourth Twilight Trail run in four years. Unfortunately, I was not feeling well - either a low grade cold or allergies. I knew sniffing last years time was not going to happen, so I went out a little slow and figured I'd see how I felt after the first big incline (around the point). Turns out I was feeling ok, so I started to try and pass people over the course of the next 4-5 miles. I managed to even pass my running buddy - who started the race like a rocket - in the last mile of the race - so that was good. My un-official time was 56:36 - good for a 7:39 min/mile pace. This puts it slower than the last 2 years - but ahead of 4 years ago. Overall, considering the illness, a decent race and probably some good training for the JP Morgan Qualifier in 2 week.

This week, I also did an easy 5.3 miler with DaveB and Larry on Wednesday - combined with the bookend races that gives me about 20 miles of running this week.

Washington Trail 10K

Today I loaded up the family and drove to Durham Connecticut for the Washington Trail Memorial Day 10K race (and parade). The parade kicked-off at 9:00 am and we watched it from my friends-in-laws lawn. The kids got doused with candy, and therefore enjoyed themselves.

After the parade, running friend Dave and myself headed over and registered. As race time approached the sun came out and the temperature creaped into the high 70s. The race started at 11:00 and headed out clockwise from the high school onto Main street up a hill - then flattened out for the first 2 miles. I was chugging along at 14:low-somethings at a 2 mile mark. Then the hills started and lasted pretty much for the next 2 miles. I hit the 4 mile mark at about 30:30 - so the middle 2 miles were run at a horribly slow pace (8:00+ min/mile). I must've been pretty beat by then, because I didn't finish until 46:54 - so the last 2 miles were just under 7:30s - giving me a 7:33 pace for the entire run. Certainly much worse than I was expecting. The course, despite the hills was very scenic - kinda rolled through some pretty Connecticut farmland - before plopping out mercifully at the school.

Tonight I'll celebrate with some tasty IPA and then think about regrouping for the twilight trail run. Not sure what my strategy will be for that. Then I need to start thinking about what I want to aim for in the fall: another 10K, 1/2 or take the plunge and try a marathon. hmm...

L&M Spring Stride

Yesterday was the L&M Spring Stride.  I've run this once before - not a great race for me.  But I made it out yesterday.  Results are here.  The good news is that I made it with under 7:00 min/miles, but it wasn't the best 3.5 miler recently (wow are there so many of those in this area?).  Nevertheless, a good week: solid intervals, a good long run and a decent tune-up race.  

O'Niantic 5K Race

O'Niantic 5K: my first race of the spring running season. I won my age group in this race last year, and was looking to defend my title this year, the races second year of existence. One year brought a course change and different weather, much colder but drier this year. The race started with temps in the low-mid 30's. I started fast and, like my previous 5k's - kept it up for a good 2 miles, before struggling in. I still managed to beat my PR by a few seconds: 20:37 (6:39 pace). While it felt great to PR, I was a little disappointed by the finish. I had to really concentrate on leg turnover during the last mile - and I was actually passed by the 2nd and 3rd place guys in my age group. No big deal in the grand scheme of things - but pacing is certainly something to work on if my goal this spring is a good 10K.

Post race, I met my family at the SE-Conn children's museaum and got pizza at Illiano's. I'm pretty wiped now. And I'm suppose to take my kids swimming. Crap, just getting them into the car's going suck. blah. Maybe to pool will wake me. up.