Mark runs far

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 at 7:00 pm | 1 Comment »

North Point 6.5 miler

Yesterday after the managed hunt I got home with every intention on running. I didn’t. After all day going on 3 hours of sleep, with every moment I DIDN’T get out the door, it became that much harder to do so.

Today when I got home from the hunt, I was operating on pretty much the same amount of sleep. Only today was slightly less physically demanding at work and I got slightly more to eat. When I got home I had a pb&j, some yogurt, and OJ. A little later I laced up my Brooks Ghosts and headed out.

I decided to not go 8 like I thought I might want to, deciding that if I wanted to finally start running consistently and not just 2-3 times per week, I’m going to have to take it easy some days while I build. And 8 miles is not an "every day run" mileage at this point yet. So 6.5 miles it was. Nice and easy. And remarkably consistent! 3.2 miles out in 26:57, 3.2 miles back in 26:52, last 0.1 mile in 46 seconds.

Workout:

Type: Run
Date: 01/12/2010
Time: 19:00:00
Total Time: 00:54:35.00
Calories: 826
Distance: 6.5 miles
Average Pace: 8:23.5/mile

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Post by:supermanz

Thursday, December 17th, 2009 at 8:20 pm | No Comments »

North Point 8.8 miler

Ran tonight along the park road. It was extremely cold - weather.com said somewhere in the high 20s, fortunately very little wind. I set out in shorts (my legs warm up remarkably well) and a long sleeve with my Sharks hat and some gloves. My plan was to run 8-9 miles, settling on going out, running the marked road mile back and forth before finishing a park road out & back, then doing a regular out & back and calling it a night.

Like I said, it was bitter cold. The only thing that was really affected by the temperature was my toes… again! Grumble grumble! About a mile and a half in, my left big toe felt numb sorta like last night when it cut my run short. Tonight I got to about 2.2 miles, stopped and put my hand around it, tried to wiggle it, see how bad it felt. It felt better than last night. So I kept running, figuring I could cut it short at 5.4 if it didn’t improve.

It improved immensely. My feet seemed to warm up as I kept going and before long, it wasn’t an issue at all. My legs felt GREAT! I wasn’t really thinking about pacing or anything, just running on feel and running what felt comfortable. I made a point of not looking at my watch because I wanted to see what "comfortable" pace actually amounted to. I surprised myself a bit.

Turns out, even with the stopping to deal with my frozen toe, the first 5.4 mile out and back + some was about 7:43 pace. And then I got faster. The last 1.7 miles (the back portion of the out & back, from the gate to the house) was done in 6:52 pace! And I would say that part I was going at about a high 6 on a scale of 1-10 effort-wise. So, not EASY easy but definitely not pushing it hard.

This week has been ok, I’m gonna get a run in with Jess the next three days, including one in Central Park on Saturday, and I’m probably gonna finish with ~30 miles. Taking it slow and getting faster anyway. Awesome.

Workout:

Type: Run
Date: 12/17/2009
Time: 20:20:00
Total Time: 1:06:24.00
Calories: 1091
Distance: 8.8 miles
Average Pace: 7:32.83/mile

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Post by:supermanz

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 3:30 pm | No Comments »

Druid Hill 7+ miler

We got done with work early which worked out perfectly for my running plans. Today was going to be something of a workout and I wanted to head over to Druid Hill Lake to take advantage of the beautiful 1.5 mile loop around the lake and the serious hills leading to the nearby Maryland Zoo. I got to the lake around 3:30 and decided to edit my original plans a bit. Initially I was going to just run four laps of the lake for an even 6 miler w/ some 20 second pick-ups interspersed and then do two 8 second hill sprints. After seeing that the road leading up to the zoo administration building was about a half mile even, I changed my plans to three laps of the lake and three hill repeats and that’s just what I did.

I started off with a quicker than expected lap and then picked up the effort a little for my first hill. I veered off the road and ran up the grass ~150m from the top because it was much steeper. The whole hill repeat (up & down) was about 0.9 miles. I did another lap around the lack and attacked the hill again. I decided to do my third repeat as soon as I got to the bottom and make my last lap of the lack a cool-down. By the top of the third hill repeat, my legs were shot (so I can say I did THAT right). I stopped along the last lap of the lake to do 12 pull ups on the workout equipment they have lining the path.

I was a little surprised that I ran the last "cool down" quicker than 8 minute pace but I’m not complaining. As I was leaving the park, I spied a spot that would be perfect was short hill sprints so I got out and did two 8 second sprints up a very steep grassy hill. Overall, excellent workout.

Workout:

Type: Walk
Date: 12/04/2009
Time: 15:30:00
Total Time: 00:54:04.00
Calories: 959
Distance: 7.3 miles
Average Pace: 7:24.44/mile

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Post by:supermanz

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009 at 5:00 pm | No Comments »

Easy 4 miler

I was a little strapped for time today, as far as getting in my run was concerned. We worked a full 8-4 today which meant I didn’t get back to North Point until about 4:35 (also had to stop at Food Lion so Chris could get some cupcake wrappers). Then we had to close the park. So I didn’t actually get in the door until shortly before 5 pm. AND I had to go back to Headquarters at Jerusalem Mill by 7 pm, meaning I had about an hour and fifteen minutes to run, eat, get changed, and leave.

I decided to do 4 miles easy tonight and then add two barefoot striders afterwards. My calves have been pretty sore since I started running again this week so I stopped after a minute or two to give them a little extra stretch which helped. I basically did an out and back on the park road, but added an extra half mile in the middle and then another 0.1 mi from my house back to the start of the park road at the end, where I did my two barefoot striders (at ~1500m pace, a pace I’m not terribly sure of except I know it should feel pretty fast and pretty hard, but sorta sustainable).

I managed to still have enough time to change, make myself a four egg broccoli, tomato, cheddar, and colby jack omelet, scarf it down, and get out the door in time.

Workout:

Type: Run
Date: 12/03/2009
Time: 17:00:00
Total Time: 00:33:25.00
Calories: 505
Distance: 4 miles
Average Pace: 8:21.39/mile

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Post by:supermanz

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 at 5:30 pm | No Comments »

NP recovery 4.5 miler

I wasn’t feeling all that up to running today. It’s not that I felt physically unable, but it had been a fairly draining day at work — we had a field trip of 9th graders come in and there was a lot of walking around the park and trail maintenance. To top it off, it started raining after lunch and the weather wasn’t much better by the time I left for my run. Fortunately, today was just a very easy day. I decided to run the park road (1.7 miles from my house to the gate) and add a mile along the road in the middle and an extra tenth at the start and finish to make it an even 4.5 miles. It was pitch black by the time I started (at 5:30 pm) and I hate that but I’m used to winter running in the dark. I took it really easy, going what I felt was recovery pace, and stayed consistent throughout. It’s shaping up to be a good first week back.

Workout:

Type: Run
Date: 12/02/2009
Time: 17:30:00
Total Time: 00:40:30.00
Calories: 532
Distance: 4.5 miles
Average Pace: 8:59.73/mile

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Post by:supermanz

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 at 4:30 pm | No Comments »

North Point 5.5 miler

This week is my first full week back to full-time running. Monday started it off with… no running! I did modified CrossFit stuff instead so today was my first day of RUNNING this week. I intended to do an easy 3+ miles out to the gate and back on the park road but when I got to where the white trail started, I decided to add an out & back on that seeing as how I measured it to be almost exactly a mile. I’m glad I did because it was a lot of fun running through the woods and helped break up the time spent running along the park road. I added some to the start and finish so that I’d hit an even 5.5 miles for the outing. As I was nearing the end, I decided to pick it up to a moderate effort for the last ~mile and did the last ~1.1 miles in almost 7:00 pace even. I’m still getting used to the fact that my "easy" and "moderate" paces have gotten quicker.

Workout:

Type: Run
Date: 12/01/2009
Time: 16:30:00
Total Time: 00:42:33.00
Calories: 698
Distance: 5.5 miles
Average Pace: 7:43.92/mile

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Post by:supermanz

Sunday, November 29th, 2009 at 5:30 pm | 1 Comment »

Back to work 3.4 miler

Exactly two weeks ago, November 15th, I ran a 5k in Norristown, PA. I ran a smart race, placed 2nd overall and set an official PR by nearly thirty seconds (18:40). Later that evening I headed over to the Haverford Nature Trail and ran an easy 4.5 miles as a shakeout/recovery run. And that was it.

That day marked five weeks since the Baltimore Marathon Relay, where I ran 7.3 miles faster than I ever had before. Five weeks which saw my first ever 50k and a 5k PR and more than a few hard training runs in between. I was exhausted, physically AND mentally.

Since that day I haven’t run at all. In fact, I haven’t done much of anything, exercise-wise, in the past two weeks. I have a pretty physical job and I’ve gotten what passes for exercise there most days but nothing at all compared to the activity level I’m used to when in the midst of training. So for all intents and purposes, I have done absolutely nothing for almost a fortnight. And that was exactly what I had planned.

Unlike my other extended layoffs over the past few years, this was my call. I wasn’t injured or breaking down, but I had been racing hard for over a month, my peak had almost certainly been realized and it was time for some downtime to recharge and recuperate. And that’s just what the past two weeks have been.

So tonight, after Jess & I finished our two day Dexter Season 1 marathon, I laced up my Brooks Launches and ran. It was nothing special; just the typical out & back along the park road at North Point, 3.4 miles total. I didn’t feel particularly awful (my intercostals reminded me that nothing had been used in a while) and I didn’t feel fantastic (I’ve never had a "runner’s high") but it was exactly what I wanted it to be: An easy "Welcome Back" run. A starting point. And it turns out I ran it in just under 8 minute pace. Heh.

This coming week, and really the next few weeks, will be mostly more of what I did tonight — shortish, slowish, easy runs. Right now it’s just going to be about reintroducing my body to the rigors of running almost daily, and doing so gradually to allow my strength to build up and NOT GET INJURED (always goal #1 for running). It might be a little boring and I’ll DEFINITELY be itching to run more than I’m going to allow myself for a while, but it’s worth it.

So, now it’s back to work.

Workout:

Type: Run
Date: 11/29/2009
Time: 17:30:00
Total Time: 00:27:07.00
Calories: 445
Distance: 3.4 miles
Average Pace: 7:58.72/mile

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Post by:supermanz

Sunday, November 15th, 2009 at 9:30 am | No Comments »

Norristown Veteran’s Day 5k

I decided last week to capitalize on the aerobic boost that comes with a long race (like a marathon or in my case a 50k) by doing a short race either last weekend or this. I found a 5k in Norristown held today which was very convenient because that’s about 20 or so minutes from Jess’ college and I was here this weekend to watch her at Regionals yesterday.

I woke up fresh, having gotten a solid 7 hours of sleep after a great pasta dinner at Buca di Beppo with Tony & Lee . The race was scheduled to start at 9:30 am so I got up a little after 7, had a banana and some water, left by 8:15ish, and got to the race start by 8:30. I took 3 caffeine tablets then, maybe a bit much but I race better with caffeine and I don’t like drinking coffee on race morning. By this time, it was already considerably hotter than it’s been recently, but still not too bad. I took off my sweatshirt though, opting to warm-up in my sweatpants, my Brooks Launches, and a Brooks baselayer over my ID t-shirt - more than enough. Jess accompanied me on the warm-up, we went out on what I figured to be the start of the course (no race map available beforehand, I was flying blind today). We went out about 10 minutes, then turned around and headed back. Got back to the car around 9:20 and had some water. Then I put on my Brooks T6 racers which had been christened with a very successful speed workout on the track Friday night. Took off the long sleeve, pinned my race bib, and headed up out of the parking lot to the road where the actual start was (a bit uphill from the parking lot where the race finish/registration area was). I did some drills (high knees, butt kicks, high skipping, cross-overs) and a few strides. Everything felt good and I was ready to go, taking off my sweatpants and joking that I was being such a good ID member completely decked out in Brooks apparel (which I actually, honestly LOVE by the way!) I always feel like running fast in the Brooks Infiniti shorts (I could go on and on about my love for these shorts really but I won’t).

By now I had had a decent chance to size up any potential competition. I saw a guy in a blue singlet who looked like a fairly serious runner and resembled the picture of last year’s race winner, so I assumed it was him (it turned out not to be). I also saw a guy (who I later learned was Tim) in a Villanova shirt and Nike frees. I figured my pre-race goals of a PR and a top 4-5 finish were realistic.

When I got to the start line, there was about 3-4 minutes to go. Because this was a race run by the area Vietnam Veterans association, there were a lot of high school ROTC kids and other military personnel there. At least 20 of these ROTC kids were lined right up at the front and I figured (correctly) they would bolt out at the start and start to fade within a half mile. Aside from Tim, blue singlet guy, and myself, there was another older guy wearing adiZero Pros up at the front who I figured would be there for the duration of the race. As I waited for the start I did some tuck jumps and ran out about 20m or so and back to stay warm.

About 2-3 minutes after 9:30, a race official came to the front to give us final instructions and an overview of the course (Brief overview of the course: it starts with a few hundred meter downhill followed by a long, gradual uphill, then it bears left and heads downhill a bit followed by a few turns and another gradual uphill to mile 2, then a short downhill followed by an extremely steep 600m (including a hairpin turn) followed by a more gradual climb for another ~200-300m, finishing with a fairly steep downhill for the last ~600m. Basically, this was NOT an easy - read: big PR - course). Then the starter raised his hand, "runners to your mark, GO!" and we were off!

The race

As I expected, blue jersey, Tim (Villanova shirt), adiZero guy, and a few ROTC kids bolted out with me, along with one or two other older runners. I tried to follow travelogger ’s advice about how to race a 5k, focusing on getting through at least the first kilometer without really feeling like I was expending much, if any, effort. Because of this, I held back a bit on the initial downhill but was still right there in the lead group as we hit the gradual incline. About 3 minutes in two things happened. First, the two ROTC kids who sprinted out with us started to fade, as I expected. Second, I realized that we were running what felt something like, or possibly easier than, tempo effort to me. Looking around I thought to myself that this was going to be a fairly tactical race and I might actually have a shot at winning it. (Keep in mind, dear reader, that the last time I was even in position to win a race was way back in middle school running 1500s on the track so while I might have a decent bit of running experience, my racing experience is considerably limited. This was going to double as a learning experience)

We turned left and ran in front of a barn before turning right and starting a downhill towards a hospital parking lot. At this point there was a group of four — blue jersey, adiZero guy, another older guy (I’ll call him tall guy because he was fairly tall), and myself with at least a 20m gap on everyone else. I still felt pretty good and we were definitely running a pace I knew I could hold until the end. On the spot I decided my gameplan for the rest of the race would be to hang with this group and let them set the pace until we got to the very steep hill, at which point I’d throw the hammer down and take off (hills being one of my strengths) and try to literally run away from everyone, then take advantage of the downhill finish to use gravity to help me keep the lead. I didn’t see a marker for mile 1 but I was pretty sure we were running at a pace that would make an official PR (<19:08) a close call for me but at this point I was more concerned with where I’d finish than the time I was going to run.

We made a right and ran along a stream briefly before making a left and running over a bridge, starting another long, gradual uphill. About a minute or so after this, I spotted red writing on the ground that said ‘2 mile.’ I looked down at my watch as I crossed to see 12:36. So we ran the first two miles in 6:18 pace. Like I figured, this was not even close to PR-pace and it WAS right around what I figure tempo pace to be for me nowadays. I knew I had a good bit still in the tank; my legs felt strong and I consciously held myself back from pushing yet, electing to stay behind adiZero and tall guy. Around this point, blue tank top began to fall off the back of our little pack by about 10m.

As we began a brief downhill, I could see the bottom of the downhill where a bridge ran over the stream and the steep hill everyone had talked about. It went up and curved to the right, then did a 180 degree turn, continuing to rise sharply for about 100m before flattening out but continuing to go up for a while longer. When we got to the bottom, right after the bridge I swung to the right of the two lead guys and started pushing, throwing pretty much everything I had at the hill. I immediately pulled ahead by a few meters but I saw the shadow of adiZero guy right at my feet. Despite pushing hard I wasn’t pulling away from him, he had decided to go with me. We did manage to gap the tall guy and blue tank top was well back by the time we got to the hairpin. I caught a glimpse of adiZero guy when I made the 180 and he was definitely pushing too. I tried to surge as the course started leveling out and I think I did manage to gain a step or two briefly but he was not going away. At this point I saw Jess in the distance and thought that I didn’t want to get passed right there with her watching so I kept pushing, knowing the steep downhill was coming and maybe I’d be able to use that to hold him off. As we turned left and began the descent towards the finish I was at full throttle and still not pulling away. With about 300m to go, adiZero accelerated and passed me on the left. I tried as best I could to counter but he started to pull away. We veered into the parking lot with about 50m to go and I knew I wouldn’t be able to catch him and could also sense 3rd place a little ways behind me. I didn’t want to get passed by him to so I threw every last ounce of energy I had into those last few steps, crossed the line, & hit my watch. There was a group of volunteers at the finish and one reached out and grabbed my hand to help me decelerate and stop so someone else could tear my tag.

I immediately shook hands with the victor and then turned around to congratulate third and fourth place (blue tank top). Jess came jogging up shortly thereafter and congratulated me. It started to sink in… 2nd overall. In an actual race! WOW! AWESOME! My time? 18:40, the same as when I time trialed 5,000m on the track a month and a half ago. Of course, this race was much more tactical and the course was A LOT harder than a flat track where I could check my splits every 200m. It also means I ran the last 1.1 miles in 6:04, or 5:30 pace (that’s with the downhill finish but also with the serious uphill too, so I say that evens out!).

We went for ~20 minute cooldown jog, doing the last half barefoot which felt really nice, wrapped my calves in Ace bandages, then went back to get my hardware. They only recognized 1st place overall male and female so I won the 20-29 age group, but 2nd overall is much more important to me. Thinking back on my overall race afterwards, I think I ran as well as I possibly could have. I could have pushed the pace harder at the start, but I wouldn’t have had nearly as much left for the hill or the finish. For once in my fairly young racing career, I was more concerned about placement than time, and to that end I ran a great race. Of course, I ALSO managed to beat my official PR by almost 30 second and match my lifetime PR too, so win-win-win!

Workout: