Race Report: Philadelphia Half Marathon

This race was all about grit to break 1:30 for the first time in a half marathon. And I feel like I almost sabotaged myself...

• enjoyed way too much of a late dinner the night before
• depending on maintenance running in favor of hard training

So when the race started, I knew I just had to go and get it. Drawing on my Pain to Paine trail half, I figured I could maintain the same hard effort for the distance but with a better time on a street course. My Garmin mile splits and thoughts along the course were as follows.

1. 6:47
2. 6:37
3. 6:47
4. 6:53
5. 6:48
6. 6:41 - First 5 miles done at above goal pace. Let's see if I can keep this going. Latched on to 3hr pacer who was slightly ahead of pace.
7. 6:23 - Great crowds along Chestnut provided lots of energy. Good to bank time.
8. 6:50 - Slight uphill took an effect.
9. 6:34
10. 6:51 - Left bending uphill seemed never ending. Needed to use arms to get up the hill.
11. 6:31
12. 6:41 - Time to get going, but not much left in the tank.
13. 6:45 - WTF? Why is this mile taking so long? And where is the finish line??
14. 2:03 (.33 miles)

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Garmin time: 1:29:11

Official finish: 1:29:12

My previous personal best was 1:31:45 this past January. I felt like 1:30 was mine for the taking today after the Boston training and the maintenance work I've continued in the past few months. I just had to not be afraid to go out and get it. I kept that in mind in the last couple of miles. It wasn't easy, but I didn't expect it to be.

Race Report: Paine to Pain Trail Half Marathon

Some quick 411 about the race before...

• URL: http://www.painetopain.com/
• only it's 3rd running this year
• Paine in URL refers American revolution figure Thomas Paine (Wikipedia entry)

It was a terrific morning for my first trail race: cool, crisp, hardly a wind nor a cloud in the sky. We even had a revolutionary figure travel from the past to fire the musket to start the race. Race strategy? I had none. No previous experience trail racing.

Before the race start, I took about a 3/8 warmup jog with RK and EM (the same EM I couldn't catch last week) just to warm up. The musket fired and we were immediately greeted with a half mile climb on asphalt. I think that was a way of spreading out the 375 or so runners because the trail was a lot of single file running. Nice move by the race coordinators.

Trail running is nothing like pavement or running on the bridle path in Central Park. It was rocky, uneven, muddy...all the things that make trails trails. Furthermore, there were a lot of short steep climbs and quick fast descents. Rolled my ankle a couple of times and saw some spills. It was also difficult to pace because of the climbs and rapid descents, so I tried to race by my heart rate.

Around mile 7 or so into the course, I managed to take the lead in my group. I wasn't comfortable because I didn't want to get lost (again) and I don't like being anyone's rabbit. Thankfully, a couple of other runners that I had not passed earlier caught up with me. Only problem was that I couldn't keep up with these newer guys.

Mile 8 on was a series of struggles. It was a struggle to keep up with the guys that passed me, to keep my legs moving on the soft surface, to stay focused on the trail. I stumbled quite a few times as fatigue started to set in. The fast start started to take it's toll, but I dug in.

Somewhere in mile 10, I was passed by another couple of other runners I hadn't passed earlier. I was impressed by how easy they seemed to be running. "I'm slowing down quite a bit," I thought. I was passed again around mile 11 by an older gentleman I had passed earlier at a stream crossing. At that point, I thought I must have slowed quite a bit. I was having a hard time keeping up with everyone that had passed me. I didn't always check my watch and pace my eyes had to be on the trail.

My finish time was about 1:38:05, if I remember correctly. I was just so glad to have finished the race. I felt I had gone out fast and just tried to keep the effort the whole way through.

After I settled down at the finish, I checked my pace times and I was surprised to have found that my fastest miles were actually the last 4 miles. I didn't slow down at all. The 5 total that passed me were just fast. Also, my fast start wasn't fast at all. In the end, my arms were up so much to help me in balance that my shoulders had a pretty good workout themselves.

My splits were as follows:

Garmin details can be found here.

Wrapping up, I had a blast with RK and EM doing this race. I can definitely understand why people get into trail running. The miles passed by so much faster I had to be so focused on almost every step. I definitely see more trail races in my future.

Race report: - 5th Avenue Mile

It's been a while since I've composed a race report. That's because I haven't raced in a while. I had originally intended on foregoing the 9 + 1 because I thought I wouldn't be interested in doing the marathon. Now I find myself scrambling to finish minimum just in case I decide to do it. The 5th Ave Mile is a fast, furious and fun qualifier and a must for anyone doing the 9 + 1.

I didn't have any expectations going into today's race. Actually, I did. They were mostly negative. Did 800's 3 weeks ago and my best time was a 2:51. Haven't done any Tabata sets, and I was sick last week. I felt that my warm-up jog confirmed that today was going to be a mediocre performance at best.

When I got to the race start, I didn't expect to see some of my friends and colleagues since they were in the 30-34 age group. Lucky for me, they decided to hang back and run with my heat. Even luckier, one of the guys, EM, is a fast youngin' that I was hoping would play the rabbit. And thank goodness he did.

The gun went off and I remember thinking go easy, but run strong. During the 1st quarter, I made sure to stride strong but tried to stay relaxed. Time at .25mi - 1:25

The 2nd quarter was a long gentle grade. EM had pulled away by about 15 meters, but I was able to reel him in within 5 by keeping a constant effort. Still tried to maintain strong strides going up the grade. Time at .50mi - 2:51.

(Halfway point check. I should be able to do 5:45 since the second half should be faster. Tiring, but the rest is downhill and flat. EM is only 5 meters ahead.)

The 3rd quarter goal was to maintain the effort on the downgrade or even start to speed it up a little. I think I was successful at it, but EM was pulling away again. Darnit! At .75mi, EM was about 12-13 meters ahead. I needed to start picking it up.

(3/4 mile check: Tired? Yes. Behind pace? No. EM too far? Yes. Are you going to be happy not giving it your all. NO! 400 meters remaining. GO TIME!)

At the 3/4 mile marker, I looked for EM and he looked impossibly far at about 10m. Just in front of me was a guy with a funny stride. I had to get past him first. Done. Now to EM. At 1500m, I squeezed out every last bit of effort and tried to hold on for as long as I could. I caught EM's back shoulder at about 10 meters to the finish, but I couldn't quite get past him. I was one second shy of his time.

Unofficial clock finish - 5:29.

Official time: 5:24. YEAH!!! PR!! First sub 5:30!!!

Insanity - Day 2

Only day 2, and I'm already questioning my commitment. Meh. The great thing about these workouts is that they're short. Heck, 15 of 40-45 mins is warm-up and stretching, albeit a very tough warm-up. It's the last 10-15 mins that seem to take F O R E V E R. The workouts are not impossible, just intense. And I'm starting to hate every form of jump squats.

Insanity - Day 1

I now understand why some friends used to call me swimming pool. After this workout, it wasn't just a puddle on the mat.

Insanity workout 1 was a cardio/plyo circuit. Wore a heart rate monitor to stay honest and saw it go up to the high 170's repeatedly towards the end of each circuit. That's my heart rate when I'm running hard repeats. It might have gone higher, but I was too exhausted to check.

The interesting about this video is that as a runner, my cardio and physical movements know how to behave when my heart rate is that high. I've adapted to an efficiency at the 80% max HR when running, so it doesn't feel as hard. When I'm doing other activities though, be it cycling or this Insanity workout, 170's and anything higher feel much tougher. But I guess that's good so I learn how to employ the rest of me in non-running extremes.

Plunging into Insanity

I've decided on an impulsive plunge into Insanity. Not crazy, just mostly bored. Cycling is fun, but I sort of miss the structured schedule I followed when doing P90X. Cycling doesn't also promote the quick, efficient burn that I get from running, i.e. I have to bike ~30mi to get the equivalent of a 6mi run.

Anyways, I'm going to fall back into the mode of training when doing P90X, except that Insanity is only 60 days, and the workouts are about 35-50 mins. Short enough for me to continue cycling and other workouts.

Here are my initial fit test numbers. Oh by the way, the fit test was tough. Even the warmup felt like a workout. This series is going to be tough.

This Month's Goal - No Running

There. I said it. That will be my longest away from running since I started about 8 years ago. The reasoning is twofold. First, I want to completely heal a nagging heel injury. Second, I want to miss running. Until then, I intend to log a few hundred miles on the bike. If I lived near a swimmable ocean, I'd swim too, but alas, I'm not in Hawaii.