Summer Training Retreat

I'm in Maine for three weeks, and although it's not really for a running retreat, I'm pretending it is. I run in the morning before work (like usual), but the routes are very different from my New York habits (Central Park, Central Park or Central Park).

I'm trying to take advantage of the cooler temps and beautiful country roads to kick the fall marathon training into full gear.

So far, it's going well. I've had some really nice 7 and 8 mile runs, and yesterday I did my first real long run in preparation for the marathon. I went 15.21 miles (thank you, Mr. Garmin), on a gorgeous route winding through farm land and along the coast.

The only time in even momentarily stopped was to attempt to photograph the three wild turkeys that I came across. OK, it's not much of a photo, but you get the idea.

Actually, one of the more telling aspects of the photo is that you can tell that I'm standing in the middle of the road. I spent a lot of the run cruising right down the center, as there were almost no cars to be found on an early Saturday in the country.

The non-stop approach is a key to this year's training plan: Get used to running for long stretches without stops. We'll see how it pans out...

As for this run, it didn't do much damage. I'm not at all sore, and I look forward to gradually increasing the long runs as I go. Hopefully building up more than tearing down.

Ah, a new rule to live by: Build up more than you tear down.

An Awesome Win

For the 4th of July, we were visiting my folks in Pennsylvania, and I entered the local Firecracker 4K race. So did my mother.

Here she is, on her way to winning the 60 and over age group -- all the more impressive given that she is 75.

Results

Female 60 and over

 Place    Name                    City             Bib No  Age   all      Time

  

    1    Grace (MOM!)           State College  PA    606    75   770    32:42.85

    2    Carol ------           Bellefonte  PA        60    61   776    33:06.00

    3    Bonnie -----------     State College  PA    630    68   836    38:24.55

    4    Ruth ------            State College  PA    773    60   852    40:26.90

    5    Ania ---------         Spring  TX           188    63   853    40:29.95

    6    Sue -------            State College  PA    570    61   855    40:33.10

    7    Linda --------         Port Matilda  PA     240    62   859    41:52.30

    8    Judy --------          Westerville  OH      872    64   860    41:52.60

Go Mom!!!!

How many shopping days is that?

I got my first "countdown" email from the NYRR today. Seems a tad early to start counting, but hey, why not?

June 5, 2009
	Countdown to the start November 1, 2009: 148 Days

15 Minutes of Fame

This just in...

One of my training buddies told me this morning that my ugly mug is included amongst the handful of pictures the NY Road Runners posted after the Brooklyn Half. See it to believe it.

Apparently, the photographer thought I was giving him a "thumbs up", when actually I was just trying to flag a cab.

Got Away With It

The plan was to ramp up my training and peak for a series of three races over four weeks , ending with yesterday's Brooklyn Half Marathon. 

Three races in four weeks is a lot, but the distances were gradually increasing, as was my interest in doing well. There was the Mother's Day 4 miler, which hoped to do well in, but it was more of a warm up to the Healthy Kidney 10K, which I was targeting more. Then a week off before going for it in the Half.

Things started out according to plan, but we went to visit my folks for Memorial Day weekend,  and it turned out that there was a race in my home town while we were there. I had never run in my home town before, and there was simply no way to resist. 

It turned out to be great fun. The race had a wonderful local feel to it. It was 500 people instead of 5000, and the vibe was 

very positive. I had a great time running the course, which was 3.8 miles, with a long tough hill in the middle. When I rounded the corner before the finish, the family was there cheering -- three generations worth. Can't beat that. My pace was a little slower than I hoped (6:44), but I was happy with my 33rd place finish.

Racing on Monday was definitely not in the original plan, so I tried to make up for it by taking Thursday and Friday off before Saturday's Brooklyn Half. That worked pretty well, and I felt fresh at the start. Too fresh in fact, as my first mile was a good bit faster than I intended. I really pulled back on mile 2 to make up for it, and then settled in to a good pace. 

The first half of the race was in hilly Prospect Park, and my splits reflected the changes in elevation. The second half of the race was totally flat, and my pace was incredibly even -- no more than 1 second of variation from mile 8 to the end. 

I ended up with a 34 second PR. Not much for a 13.1 mile race, but once again, a PR is a PR. The splits are at the end of this post.

The race ended at the Coney Island boardwalk, and PL and I jumped into the ocean to cool off. It was a spectacular feeling. The water was ice cold, but that's just what we needed. The Brooklyn Half is a race not to miss.

The next day, PL talked me into coming out for the Japan Day 4 miler, as a "recovery race". We took it easy, and it felt good to stretch the legs out. I can't help but notice though, that technically, I ran three races this week... Not usually recommended.

Anyway, I'm now headed for some down time. I'll cut back on milage, skip speed work, and generally give my old body a chance to regenerate. I consider myself lucky to have survived this push, which was a bit over the top. Next time, I'll try to control myself a bit better (ha!). 

Looking back though, it does seem that I got away with it. I PRed in all three target races (I could even claim the home town race as a PR, since I've never run a 3.8 miler before), and I seem to have escaped injury. I can't wait for the next big push!

Brooklyn Half Marathon Splits:

6:56

7:26

7:15

7:09

7:34

7:31

7:08

7:10

7:18

7:17

7:19

7:17

7:19

0:41 (last 0.1 miles)

What a Difference a Day Makes

Today was the Healthy Kidney 10k, a race I have been targeting. In fact last week I made wild predictions of a PR.

My brilliant plan was to take the day before the race off, therefore starting the race "fresh", as opposed to last weekend, when I did a long run the day before the race.

So how did it work? Actually, pretty well. I was ahead of PR pace from the get go, and felt strong throughout the race. There was a sudden but brief rain storm during mile 2-3, and I was pretty thoroughly drenched, but the temperature was perfect, so the rain didn't slow me down at all.

OK, I have to admit that the photo on the left is not from this morning. It's actually from last weekend (photo by Flyer Photographer Bob Cowin) . But the look of confidence in the photo matches this week's race better than the day it was taken. 

In fact, the truth is that I spotted Bob (the photographer) that day, and mustered up the best pose I could. I regretted it immediately though, when I felt like I had pulled something in my back. For a  moment I thought my race was over, since it hurt to breathe, and I needed all the air I could get. Fortunately, the pain passed pretty quickly and I was able to go on. Next time I see Bob with his camera, I'll just smile, or maybe wink. I'll save the arm pumps for after the race.

Getting back to today's race, I finished with a satisfying 23 second PR. Afterwards, I saw a bunch of Flyers many of whom had PRs. In particular, the bloggers seemed to be on a roll, as The Laminator, jb24 and (reportedly) Trakmaniac all PRed. I just goes to show you -- want to run faster? Start a blog. 

The morning Flyers also made a great showing. There were too many successes to mention them all, but I have to single out CB, who finished fourth in her age group, and led the Flyers women to a first place age group finish. 

Trakmaniac and GW, who organize the Flyer Marathon Training Program, gave me a copy of their brilliant booklet with this year's schedule, including tons of organized long runs. They have really done an amazing job.  

Splits from today:

6:39

6:42

6:49

7:01 (all uphill)

6:44

6:47

1:21 (last 0.2)

42:10 official time (42:06 according to my watch....)

Three Seconds

Today was the first of three races that I'm sort of treating as a series. Four miles today, 10K next weekend, and two weeks after that, the Brooklyn Half. I've increased my weekly milage lately, and speed work and tempo runs have been going well, so it's time to see how well it will pay off.

With the longer races coming up, my plan was to not let today's race interrupt my training schedule, so instead of taking the day off yesterday, I did my scheduled long run. 

I've been feeling in such good shape, that I thought I could challenge my PR today. It's only four miles, after all -- who needs a day off for that, right?

In the first mile I felt reasonably fast, but not.... fresh. I had the feeling that that my legs might start to fade. Just the same, I kept charging, running 6:37 and 6:26 for my first two miles. That put me slightly ahead of PR pace, with the toughest mile coming up. I toughed out the third mile in 6:42, leaving me a couple of seconds behind. 

With just a few seconds to make up, and a downhill last mile to go, things looked good. The only problem was that I had worked really hard to get there, and did not have much left in the tank. I kept pushing though, and ran the last mile in 6:29, beating my PR by.... 3 seconds.

I checked my last 4 mile PR race report, and can you believe it, that was a 3 second PR as well.

That's just weird. 

My time of 26:16 was good enough for a tenth place finish in my age group, but I think that a lot of the faster guys had other things to attend to on Mother's Day. 

Next up: the Healthy Kidney 10K. It's a club points race, so I won't be in the top ten of my age group, but here is my pledge:  To PR by at least 4 SECONDS!