1:56:02
| NO | FN | LN | DIVISION | DIVPL | SEXP | CHIP TIME | TIME | PACE |
| 175 | Cecilia | Cotton | F3034 | 61/144 | 276 | 1:56:02 | 1:57:57 | 8:51 |
I had a decent run on a tough course. The complete results are here. I’ll post my full race report in a few days.
Race Report: 2009 Love ‘em or Leave ‘em 5K
This morning I ran the Love ‘em or Leave ‘em 5K at Green Lake. I previously ran this race in 2006 (27:35) and 2008 (24:30). The big change this year was that instead of only using the pedestrian path they actually shut down one lane of Green Lake Drive and used it for most of the route. This made the course marginally faster (no extra loop behind the community center to add mileage). My goal for the race was to run <25:00.
Pre Race
I picked up my bib and timing chip on Saturday so I didn’t have to worry about that on race morning. It was 1C and cloudy as I was getting ready so I chose to wear capris, a thermal long-sleeved shirt, running vest and gloves. The race was slated to start and 9:30 am so I planned to leave my apartment at 9:10 and run a one mile warm-up to the start line. At about 8:40 I tried to turn on my Garmin to take off the auto-lap function but it displayed a low battery warning. I’d charged it on Saturday so this was unexpected. I charged it for half and hour but as I went to leave the apartment it wouldn’t even turn on. Augh! Garmin Failure! I tried to remember how to reset it but I didn’t really have time so I just left it at home and made my way to the race. My warm-up was probably a little too quick but I made it to the start line about 8 mintues before the start. I lined up half way between the 7:00 and 8:00 min/mile pace signs and tried to relax and get some quick stretches in.
The Race
I was feeling a bit flustered at the start and since I didn’t have my Garmin I knew I was just going to have to run by feel. The gun went off and it only took a few seconds for me to cross the starting line. I took off hard, probably too hard, but there were supposed to be 2000+ runners in the race and I really didn’t want to get stuck behind a crowd. The course did run on the pedestrian path on the west side of the lake during the first mile but thankfully I had no crowding issues. By the time we got to Green Lake Drive I was hurting and we weren’t even at the first mile maker yet! Once I was into the second mile my goal was to just run at a controlled hard pace. Once I was into the third mile I started using mind games to maintain pace. My current favourite is counting steps in a ladder by 10’s up to 100. I was definitely being passed way more than I was passing people which made me think that I must have been slowing down substantially. I really didn’t know what pace I was running but I knew I wanted it to be over. We turned off Green Lake and onto the path towards the finish behind the Aqua Theatre. I ran hard through the finish. I didn’t get a good look at the clock but I could have sworn it said 23 something as I was running up towards it.
What? Did I just run sub 24? That’s ridiculous. No wonder I feel like I’m about to collapse!
Post Race
After the race was over I caught my breath, drank a bottle of water and ate an apple and a mini cupcake. I was hoping that they would post the race results and after about 10 minutes they finally came out. I found my name and it said I’d run 23:08! That’s a new personal best by 11 seconds. I walked away in shock. A few minutes later I had to go back and be sure that I’d read the results correctly!
I don’t have splits so I have no idea how evenly I ran the race. I actually think not having my Garmin helped me set a PB today. If I’d seen my pace I might have been tempted to let myself slow down since I was running way ahead of my goal. As it was I felt like I was running slowly (especially since I was being passed so much) so I tried really hard to maintain whatever pace I could. Setting a 5K PB wasn’t on my radar for this race or even this year so it’s a nice bonus. Hopefully it’s an indication that there are more PB’s (half marathon? 10K?) in my future!
Results
Time: 23:08
Pace: 7:28 min/mile
Overall place: 232 out of 2010 (88th percentile) [Places include walkers]
Division place: 18 out of 407 (95th percentile)
Gender place: 66 out of 1310 (94th percentile)
Full results are available here.
Race Report: 2008 Seattle Marathon
Pre Race
On race morning I woke up a few minutes before my 5:45am alarm was set to go off. I ate a breakfast of oats, banana, green tea and water while rechecking all the weather forecasts I could find online. It was unseasonably warm on race morning (8C with a high of 12C), foggy and rather humid. Contrast that to two years ago when it snowed! I got all my gear together and headed out to take the bus down to Seattle Center. I arrived at the start area at about 7:15 which was 15 minutes before the half marathon was scheduled to start and an hour before the marathon start. You know me, perpetually early for everything! Because I had so much time I decided to go to the indoor recovery area to relax and get organized.
I settled on wearing shorts, a long sleeved technical shirt and gloves to the start of the race. I dropped off my extra clothes at gear check and took a gel about 15 minutes before race start. There were just over 2000 marathoners so that start line wasn’t nearly as crowded as for the half marathon with over 7000 runners. I lined up between the 4:00 pacer and the 4:45 pacer. I was aiming for a 4:00 finish but I didn’t plan to run with the pace group and frankly I thought they were positioned too close to the front.
The race started on time and within about a minute I was across the start line on my way to running my second marathon!
First Half 1:58:15 (Downtown – I-90 – Lake Washington – Seward Park)
The first mile was not nearly as crowded as I’d expected. In fact I finished the first mile in 9:00 flat which was faster than the 9:09 pace I was aiming for. You can see the rest of my splits in the data section below. My focus for the first few miles was to settle into my goal pace and take things easy. I enjoyed the run through downtown and felt the climb up the I-90 express lanes was easier than I’d remembered. Also somehow all the walkers were in a different lane separated by a concrete barrier so there weren’t the same crowding issues I experienced two years ago during the half.
By mile 4 I’d warmed up significantly and decided to throw away my gloves. They were cheap gloves I’d gotten for free at a race last year so I wasn’t sad to see them go. I also took a gel/water break at this point. Throughout the race I stuck with my plan of a walk/water/Gatorade/gel break every two miles. Running across the I-90 bridge was like being in some kind of a sci-fi movie. It was so foggy that you couldn’t see Mercer Island or the lake and it looked like the bridge went to no where!
The first real indication that this wasn’t going to be the day that I beat 4 hours was during the eighth mile on the bridge heading back to Seattle. I was passed by the 4:00 pace group. I’d started behind them so I’m not sure when I passed them but now they’d caught back up to me. I could tell that they were a few minutes ahead of pace but I couldn’t hold with them and watched them slowly creep ahead and out of sight. I was still maintaining a good pace myself which is why I was happy to let them go but I was starting to wonder how long I could hold this up for.
I was happy to get off the I-90 bridge and off the concrete onto the relative softness of the Lake Washington Blvd asphalt. Somewhere along this stretch I saw my favourite t-shirt of the day. It read “My sport is your sport’s punishment.” Nice. Made me think of all the basketball pro-sprints I used to have to do! I also got to see the marathon leaders go by heading north while I was still running south.
I hit the half marathon point in Seward park in 1:58:15 which was great but in the end this quick first half would cost me dearly.
Second Half 2:12:04 (Lake Washington – Galer/Madison – Interlaken – Finish)
Looking at the pace graph and table below I started to steadily slow down starting at mile 15. My heart and lungs felt fine but my legs just couldn’t maintain the pace I’d put out in the first half. Knowing the course really helped though because I had a landmark at the top of every hill and I knew what I was aiming for. By the time I hit mile 17 I knew for sure that 4 hours wasn’t happening. My legs just did not have the turn over that I needed.
I then shifted into focusing on my secondary goal of setting a new personal best. I could feel myself fading and I realized that this race had become totally mental. I had to will my legs to keep moving. Mile 21 included the climbs up Galer and Madison and I was devastated to see it come in at 11:29. There was a gel/water break in there too but I really didn’t think I was running that slowly!
As I moved along through the arboretum and along Interlaken I encountered a new problem. Everywhere around me people were walking! It is so hard to keep running when the temptation of walking is all around you. I don’t remember seeing this many people walking when I ran in Ottawa so I’m going to attribute it to the hills. In fact despite the fact that my pace over the second half was over a minute per mile slower than during the first half I still passed 152 runners in the second half while only 82 passed me! I pretty much ignored my splits from this point on and just tried to keep moving forward and quickly as possible.
I can not tell you how much I hated the Mercer climb just before mile 26! It was agony. My legs were killing me and mentally I really just wanted it to be done. I did manage to put on a decent sprint to the finish once I got into the stadium though. My final chip time was 4:10:19 a personal best by 14:54!
Post Race
Once I crossed the finish line all I wanted to do was sit down but I made myself to keep moving for fear that my legs might seize on me otherwise. I had some water and chocolate milk and ate a banana but that’s all I was really interested in consuming for the time being. I recall immediately thinking “I’m only going to do half marathons for a while!” but imagine that will pass eventually.
Upon reflection I honestly don’t think that I hit the wall during the race. I feel good about my nutrition and hydration strategy and I was mentally focused the whole time. In the end I think it comes down to my leg strength. As the race progressed my legs got more and more fatigued and tight/sore. This is frustrating because I’ve known leg strength is a limitation for me for a while but I haven’t figured out how to deal with it yet. I also think that I went out too fast. Next time around I’d probably try and be more disciplined even if I’m feeling good and aim to run around 2:02 first half just so I have more energy saved for the second half. That strategy would probably work better on a course with a more even distribution of hills though as opposed to Seattle when they mostly come in the last six miles.
At the end of the day I’m very pleased with my finish time and with setting a new personal best. I hadn’t set a personal best yet in 2008 so this race was my last chance to show improvement! I still think I can do better though!
---------------------------------------------
Cumulative Cumulative Projected
Mile Split Time Pace Finish
---------------------------------------------
1 09:00 0:09:00 09:00.0 3:55:48.0
2 08:44 0:17:44 08:52.0 3:52:18.4
3 09:16 0:27:00 09:00.0 3:55:48.0
4 09:17 0:36:17 09:04.3 3:57:39.3
5 08:35 0:44:52 08:58.4 3:55:06.1
6 09:00 0:53:52 08:58.7 3:55:13.1
7 09:12 1:03:04 09:00.6 3:56:03.0
8 09:01 1:12:05 09:00.6 3:56:04.4
9 09:11 1:21:16 09:01.8 3:56:34.6
10 08:52 1:30:08 09:00.8 3:56:09.0
11 09:06 1:39:14 09:01.3 3:56:21.3
12 08:51 1:48:05 09:00.4 3:55:58.9
13 09:22 1:57:27 09:02.1 3:56:42.4
13.1 1:58:05
14 09:06 2:06:33 09:02.4 3:56:49.8
15 09:40 2:16:13 09:04.9 3:57:55.5
16 09:23 2:25:36 09:06.0 3:58:25.2
17 09:54 2:35:30 09:08.8 3:59:39.2
18 09:38 2:45:08 09:10.4 4:00:21.6
19 09:54 2:55:02 09:12.7 4:01:21.7
20 10:03 3:05:05 09:15.3 4:02:27.6
21 11:29 3:16:34 09:21.6 4:05:14.4
22 10:01 3:26:35 09:23.4 4:06:01.3
23 10:43 3:37:18 09:26.9 4:07:32.0
24 10:40 3:47:58 09:29.9 4:08:51.8
25 10:16 3:58:14 09:31.8 4:09:40.1
26 10:17 4:08:31 09:33.5 4:10:25.7
26.2 01:48 4:10:19 09:33.2
---------------------------------------------
Race Report: 2008 Victoria Half Marathon
Pre Race
Matt and I had the most stereotypical pre-race evening imaginable. We had a carbo load dinner of pasta with tomato sauce and steamed broccoli and then watched Spirit of the Marathon on DVD. I went to bed remarkably calm and not nervous. I think this was because this wasn’t an A race for me and I ran the race last year so I knew what to expect logistically.
I woke up at 5:30 am on Sunday morning and ate my usual pre-race breakfast of oats, half a banana, green tea and water. At 6:00 am I watched the start of the Chicago Marathon online and then at about 6:35 am I left Matt’s apartment for the 20-minute walk down to the start line. The weather was cool and cloudy so I wore shorts and a long sleeved technical shirt with a technical tank top underneath. I had lots of time at the race start to do a light warm-up jog, some stretching, eat a gel and still be in the starting corrals about 20 minutes before the race start. I lined up right in front of the 2 hour pace sign and waited to start my seventh half marathon!
I should mention that I finally (after almost two years) figured out the right screens to have displayed on my Garmin while I race. First I turn off auto-lap and hit the lap button on my own at each km marker. On my main screen I have Time (stopwatch time) in big and then below it Distance and Time – Avg Lap (average time to complete each lap so far). The last one is critical. If you use Pace – Avg Lap it will throw you off because the distance the Garmin measures is never exactly the same as the mile/km markers on the course and they’re what really count.
km 1-5 in 27:27 (5:29 min/km)
The announcer at the start told us that this year’s half marathon was the largest sporting event on Vancouver Island. I became acutely aware of this during the first mile of the course as I wove through slower runners and walkers. My first km came in a 5:56 and in hindsight that probably made me speed up a bit too much in subsequent km in an attempt to get down to 5:41. I missed the km 4 marker again this year as I was walking through a water stop. I felt pretty good through the first 5 km. I was pushing the pace comfortably and my legs felt good.
km 6-10 in 27:52 (5:34 min/km)
The second 5 km section was mostly run in circles in and around Beacon Hill Park. There were a few notable hills that I purposely slowed to climb. I don’t like getting passed on the uphills but I dislike destroying my legs even more. I forced myself to take a gel and a walk break at km 8 (mile 5) even though I was feeling good and didn’t want to stop. Towards the end of this section we turned onto Dallas Road and enjoyed a long decline. Unfortunately what went down would later have to come up!
km 11-15 in 28:02 (5:36 min/km)
As we turned off Dallas Road and into the neighbourhoods we could see the faster half marathoners coming at us. I am thrilled to report that there were no crazy crossing issues like last year. I think the problem was solved with extra pylons and “keep left” signs. After km 12 I look a walk/water break and decided to take off my long sleeved shirt and just wear the tank. Even though it was probably only 8C I was getting overheated! I’d purposely pinned my race bib to my shorts to give myself this option. Somewhere in this section there was a beer stop! I declined because I’m pretty sure my stomach would not handle that well! There was also a house playing Chariots of Fire on repeat which was great fun to run by.
km 16-20 in 28:02 (5:36 min/km)
By the time this section started I was definitely starting to tire. Although they didn’t really hurt my legs were protesting. They felt slow and tight especially up the hill next to Clover Point. I saw the marathon leaders go by and I tried to harness their focus and form! I took another gel and walk break at km 16 (mile 10) and from there I was focused on getting to the finish time. I was moving well but the last few km seemed to last forever. Fortunately I’m very familiar with this stretch of road so I was able to pick a series of landmarks to use as short term goals.
km 20-21.1 in 5:37 min
During the last 1.1 km I just kept telling myself to git ‘er done. I knew I was going to beat 2 hours handily by chip time. I put on a bit of a finishing sprint to beat 2 hours by gun time and crossed the finish line with a smile on my face. Hey, I did set a new age group PB!
Finish Time 1:57:00 (5:32 min/km or 8:55 min/mile)
Post Race
Immediately following the race I felt pretty good. But not so good that I would have been up for continuing and running another 13.1 miles! I’ve still got 7 weeks of training and the benefit of a taper to get me through the marathon. I averaged 8:55 min/mile which is a little faster that the 9:09 min/mile I’m going to need to break 4 hours in the marathon. Given the results of this half I’m not changing my primary goal but I have a very realistic idea what it’s going to take to get me there.
Place overall: 1664/4266 (61.0th percentile)
Place in gender: 697/2673 (73.9th percentile)
Place in age group (F3034): 114/375 (69.6th percentile)
Placing is based on gun time (1:59:43) and includes walkers.
1:57:00
=================================================================== Final Place Bib Gun Chip KM Place In Sex Place In Division No. Time Time Pace =================================================================== 1663 696/2479 F 114/362 Female 30-34 3694 1:59:43 1:57:00 5:33
Official results are here
Race Report: 2008 Race for the Cure 5K
This morning I ran the Race for the Cure 5K. This race is really a whole morning of events down at Qwest Field including a Kids run, Women’s 5K run, Co-ed 1 mile walk, Co-ed 5K run and Co-ed 5K walk. I did the Women’s 5K because I absolutely love all female races. And it’s hard not to get behind a breast cancer fundraiser.
Pre race: I woke up 5:40 am, ate breakfast, got myself organized and then headed out to catch a bus downtown. I got to Qwest Field (where the Seattle Seahawks and Sounders play) at about 7:10 am. This gave me lots of time to pick up my bib and t-shirt, drop off my bag and do a nice warm-up. I also got to use the cleanest porta potty I have ever seen in my entire life. For some reason my legs were extremely tight. All I could do was try to stretch them out and keep them warm before the race. The weather was absolutely perfect – cloudy and about 10C. The first event of the day was the Kids run at 7:45 am. I was impressed by the number of local mascots in attendance including Blitz, the Mariner Moose, Harry the Husky and Rhubarb the Reindeer.
Once the Kids run was over we women started lining up. They kept referring to this as the “Competitive Women’s 5K Run” but it wasn’t chip timed and they weren’t using pull tabs off our bibs either. The course was certified though so I figured my Garmin time would be my official time.
The race: I started about 5 rows back from the front line and I thought it was very cool that for about the first mile I could see the pace car and police escort ahead of me leading the front runners. Other than the first 50m I experienced no congestion issues. The course starts northbound heading up a ramp onto the lower lanes of the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Then after about 1.5 miles you exit off Alaskan (after a climb followed by a downhill ramp) and then climb back up onto the upper lanes and head back southbound. I felt pretty good for the first mile but struggled with the hills in the second mile. By the third mile I was just holding on and hoping I’d make it to the end. My legs were tired but I don’t think the pre-race tightness was a factor. I used all the mental tricks I could to keep my pace up towards the end. My approximately accurate Garmin splits were 7:41 / 8:01 / 7:42 / 0:51 for a finish time of 24:15.
Post-race: I was pretty shaky when I crossed the finish line and it took a few moment of deep breathing with my hand on my knees to get my wits about me. I didn’t sit on the ground though because I thought I might not be able to get back up! Still, I was quite pleased with my time and the fact that I pushed hard all the way through to the finish. My time is 1:04 off my PB but that was set on a flat course. Plus I’ve only done one tempo run and one speedwork session in the last six weeks! So now I’m just going to keep plugging away with my “30 on 30″ training program. I’ve got 9 miles on the schedule for tomorrow morning!
Race Report: 2008 Vancouver Half Marathon
Pre-Race
Dad and I drove up to Vancouver on Friday morning and spent the day visiting friends. Then we met Matt and his parents for a delicious curry dinner at the Banana Leaf. Saturday morning started with brunch with C&J and then it was onto the marathon expo. We spent about half an hour at the expo picking up our race kits, visiting the booths and picking up free samples. I was impressed that they had lots of chilled drinking water and real glasses (i.e. not paper cups) out to help satisfy the runners’ hydration needs. After the expo we all headed to Stanley Park for the afternoon.
First we drove the Stanely Park segment of the half marathon course so that Matt could see the Prospect Point hill. We also stopped to see the totem polls and to check out a few of the view points. We got to the aquarium and waited in a super long line to get in. I guess a cloudy Saturday afternoon isn’t the best time to see the aquarium! Despite the crowds we had a great time at the aquarium and caught both the dolphin and beluga shows. Of course that meant I had Rafi’s “Baby Beluga” song stuck in my head all afternoon!
The alarm(s) went off at 5am on Sunday morning and I had my usual oats, green tea and banana for breakfast. The weather was perfect for racing. I didn’t check the temperature (would you believe that one channel wouldn’t come in on our hotel TV and it was the weather channel) but I’d estimate it was 8C and partly cloudy. We left the hotel at 6am and after an initial wrong turn (mostly my fault) arrived at BC Place at about 6:20. Between dropping off my bag at bag check and the porta potty lines we didn’t have a lot of time to spare. Matt and I made it over to the start corral and tried to position ourselves correctly. We had decided not to run the race together but lined up together since there was a serious lack of useful pace signs (we only saw 1:30 and 2:30 pacers!). The race started on time and we started to inch our way to the start line.
The plan
I pretty much outlined my plan and goals in a previous post so I’ll just reference that here. The goal was to average 8:23 min/mile and if all else failed just go as hard as possible.
The Race
My first mile came in at 8:45. Given the congestion I was happy with my start but wished that it had felt a little easier. Miles 2, 3 and 4 were the only ones of the day that I would actually manage to do under my goal pace of 8:23 min/mile. I don’t know how to best explain this but I just didn’t have the legs I needed in this race. I was happy with the pace of those 3 miles but I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to maintain it. It just felt way too hard. In fact it felt like I should have been racing a 10K not a half marathon. I saw Dad just after mile 4, exactly where he said he’d be, and that gave me a nice boost of energy.
I took a water and gel walk break during mile 5 so all things considered, 8:36 for that mile was pretty good. We entered Stanley Park during mile 6 and hit a few small inclines that slowed me down a bit. Still I hit the half way mark (a quarter marathon?) in 55:34 which was only 34 seconds behind my goal. However, knowing the hill was coming I thought that sub 1:50 probably wasn’t going to happen for me but I though a new PB (<1:51:59) was still a possibility.
Miles 8 and 9 contain the 200 foot climb up to Prospect Point. Two years ago when I ran this race my goal was to run, not walk, all the way up that hill. This year I was in survival mode. I was afraid that if I tried to run all the way up I’d push myself into a place that I wouldn’t recover from. So I instituted a run 200 steps, walk 30 steps pattern. I certainly got passed a lot on the hill but I managed to make it to the top in one piece. Miles 8 and 9 came in at 9:44 and 9:41 which sort of blew the PB hopes out the window.
I should mention that the weather and scenery were beyond gorgeous for the race. Sometimes it’s hard to appreciate that while you’re racing but I did my best to soak it in.
I tried to loosen up and run down the backside of the hill as fast as I could but it still felt slow. By the time I hit mile 10 I was ready for the whole thing to be over. I pushed hard in those last few miles despite the fact that I didn’t feel like my legs were responding to my demands on then to move and all I really wanted to do was stop and sit down. I saw Dad near mile 12 (once again, exactly where he said he’d be) and gave him my water bottle to bring back to the hotel. I was hoping the dropping the weight of the empty water bottle would make running easier! I saw Matt’s mom a bit later and then tried to put the push on to the finish.
Post Race
I finally crossed the finish line in 1:54:00. That was 4:01 off my goal #1 and 2:01 off my personal best. I have to be honest, I felt horrible after I finished. Mentally I was disappointed in my result and physically I was spent. I made my way though the finish corrals, down into BC Place, picked my bag and had a bit to eat. I really wasn’t interested in most of the food but I did force myself to eat half a banana and a cup of chocolate pudding. I also swapped the size medium shirt I’d got at the expo for a size large shirt. I met Matt and his parents at the “Family Meeting Area” and then sat on the floor for about 15 minutes getting my wits about me.
Matt had a super race (1:41:44 for his first official half) and was in much better physical and mental shape than I was. We walked (slowly) back to the hotel for showers and then went to brunch with my Dad. It wasn’t until I got three blueberry pancakes with syrup into me that I felt mentally better.
Now that I’ve had a few days to reflect on my race results the disappointment of not achieving my primary goals has faded. I ran this race 16:42 faster than I did two years ago and that’s a huge difference. However, I’m still left with the following concerns: (1) I averaged 184 bpm which is ridiculously high; (2) I didn’t feel I had the leg turnover that I needed; (3) I got a little down on myself mentally during the race and (4) Hills continue to be a big challenge for me. I’m going to have to address these over the coming weeks.
Data
Mile Split Cumulative ============================ 1 8:45.1 0:08:45.1 2 8:13.3 0:16:58.3 3 8:18.2* 0:25:16.5 * averaged since I missed mile marker 3 4 8:18.2* 0:33:34.7 5 8:36.5 0:42:11.3 6 8:34.4 0:50:45.6 Half 0:55:34.6 7 8:36.0 0:59:21.7 8 9:43.9 1:09:05.6 9 9:41.0 1:18:46.6 10 8:31.9 1:27:18.5 11 8:47.0 1:36:05.5 12 8:45.4 1:44:50.9 13.1 9:09.1 1:54:00.0 (a 8:19 pace) ============================ Total 1:54:00 Avg pace 5:24 min/km, 8:42 min/mile Avg BPM 184 Place overall 1298/5595 (76th percentile) Place in gender 462/3583 (87th percentile) Place in age group (F2529) 108/643 (83rd percentile) (places are based on chip time and include walkers)
1:54:00
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Final Place Bib Chip KM Place In Sex Place In Division No. Gun Time Time Pace - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1298 462/3583 108/643 Female 25-29 7908 1:55:41 1:54:00 5:25
The official results are here. I didn’t have my greatest race and I wasn’t able to break 1:50:00 but I did pull off my second fastest half marathon ever. I’ll post a full race report later this week.
Race Report: 2008 Love’ Em or Leave ‘Em 5K
Preamble: I feel I need to preface this race report with a brief update on my running thus far in 2008. I’ve been trying to build my aerobic fitness by doing all my running in my aerobic heart rate zone (roughly 149 – 164 bpm). In order to do this I’ve had to increase my usual easy/long run pace by about 2 minutes per mile. This has been extremely frustrating. While I truly want to believe that this will increase my fitness and help me drop my half marathon PB it’s hard not to think that running so slowly is just detraining. Matt (who has had to bear the brunt of my frustration about the slow pace) suggested that I run a 5K as a test of my fitness. I figured that under my “usual” training routine I would have been able to pull off a 24-25 minute 5K. So that was the benchmark I was going to use to compare today’s race result.
Pre-race: I ran the inaugural Love ‘Em or Leave ‘Em 5k in 2006 and had a great time. Last year the race didn’t fit into my marathon training but I was happy to be back in 2008. The course is a clockwise loop of Green Lake (very similar to the Iron Girl where I PB’d) starting from the south end of the lake. Due to high registration the organizers added a t-shirt/bib pick-up on Saturday which was great for me because it meant I was able to just run to the start and go. It was 8C, windy but dry this morning so I wore shorts, a long sleeved thermal top and no gloves! The race was scheduled to start at 9:30 am so I left my apartment at about 9:05 am and did a slow 1 mile warm-up run to the start.
The race: I wore my Garmin for the race but I vowed not to look at it. I wanted to just run by feel and not be influenced by the numbers. It was an experiment. I lined up just behind the 8:00 min/mile pace sign. I know I should be more zen about this but if there’s one thing that really bugs me it’s people who don’t self seed themselves correctly. The first half mile of the race was a mess. The Green Lake path isn’t really wide enough for 1,500 runners unless people are seeded correctly. That being said I don’t think there’s anything the race organization could of done except possibly set up the sound system so we could actually hear the pre-race instructions.
About half way through the first mile I was able to settle into a steady pace. I know the Green Lake path very well so I had a home court advantage andwas able to anticipate all the turns and (very small) hills. The second mile was a bit tougher but I focused on running smoothly. By the third mile I was ready for this to be over but I tried to push the pace as hard as I could. I hit my watch as I crossed the finish line and was very pleased to 24:30. I was even more pleased when I checked my splits: 8:02 / 8:01 / 7:52 / 0:35. Nice consistency in the first 2 miles and then a pick up to the finish.
Post-race: The finish line area wasn’t too packed when I finished but it was a zoo a few minutes later. I managed to get through the food line quite quickly and pick up a banana, some water and a Starbucks “Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Latte” sample. I gave myself a few minutes to let the banana settle and then I did a slow 2 mile jog home.
At the end of the day my finish time of 24:30 was right in the middle of my expected range. So all this slow running probably hasn’t been doing me any harm. Tomorrow I start training for the Vancouver half marathon. I am going to start doing one speedwork/tempo run session per week but I’m going to stick with my ridiculously slow aerobic pace. I’ll re-evaluate after the half marathon.
Race Report: 2007 12Ks of Christmas
Back in October I received a free entry to the 12Ks of Christmas for volunteering at the Dawg Dash. I sent in the entry and decided that I’d make running the race a game time decision dependent on my recovery from the Fall Classic half marathon and the day’s weather. The recovery was no problem and it wasn’t raining on Sunday morning so I decided to go for it.
I didn’t really check out the route beforehand but if there’s one thing I remember from running the Kirkland Half Marathon in May it’s that Kirkland is hilly. I made up a little song to psych myself up about it: When I say Kirkland you say Hills: Kirkland!Hills! Kirkland! Hills! That worked for the first kilometer.
I had no real goals for this race. I hadn’t specifically trained for this distance although I had kept my mileage up since the half four weeks ago. I figured going under an hour would be pretty cool but might be slightly out of my reach. I decided to try and pace 5:00 kilometers anyway because I like nice round numbers.
My splits were consistently inconsistent: if the kilometer was predominately uphill the split was slower than 5:00, if it was predominately downhill the split was faster than 5:00. Along the way I achieved and unofficial 10K PB of 51:00. I’ve only ever run one 10K race and it wasn’t an “A” race (see: Race Report: Dawg Dash 10K 2006) so my official 10K PB of 54:02 is a bit out of synch with the rest of my PBs. I finished the 12K in 1:00:48. If the course hadn’t been as hilly I might have been able to break and hour but that’s just speculation. I’m still really happy with my result and thrilled that I finished in the 90th percentile for my age group!
I’m done with speed for a while. My plan is now to move into base training mode. That means trying to build my aerobic base by doing lots of slow running and cross training. The next race on my calendar is the Vancouver Half Marathon in May.
Data
km Split Cumulative Avg BPM Elevation ============================================= 1 5:22.9 0:05:22.9 159 uphill 2 4:54.4 0:10:17.3 170 downhill 3 4:45.7 0:15:03.0 178 downhill 4 5:24.1 0:20:27.1 186 uphill 5 5:13.0 0:25:40.1 186 uphill 6 5:13.3 0:30:53.4 186 uphill 7 5:33.1 0:36:26.5 184 mixed 8 4:43.2 0:41:09.7 182 downhill 9 4:47.2 0:45:46.9 183 downhill 10 5:03.0 0:50:59.9 186 mixed 11 5:03.8 0:56:03.7 184 mixed 12 4:44.5 1:00:48.2 185 mixed ============================================= Total 1:00:48 Avg pace 5:04 min/km Avg BPM 180 Place overall 203/937 (78th percentile) Place in gender 75/587 (87th percentile) Plane in age group (F2529) 16/156 (90th percentile)