Mar 7
2010

Dear Courier-Journal.  5k is a distance.  If you’re unfamiliar, it’s 5 kilometers, which is roughly 3.1 miles.

Marathon also refers to a distance.  At present, that distance is 26 miles, 385 yards or 42.195 kilometers.

In history, the distance has been as short as 24.85 miles.  However, it has never been remotely close to 5k.  The last finisher of the Anthem 5k finished 30 minutes sooner than the world record marathon time.

I do not expect the average person to understand the distinction; however, in order to report on a basketball game, you wouldn’t allow the terms “extra innings” and “overtime” to be confused.  ”Home runs” vs. “Touchdowns?”

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Mar 6
2010

Course Commentary

I’m not particularly fond of the Anthem 5k.  There were 8516 finishers this year.   In years past, this race was entirely run along the downtown city blocks.  While this made the course incredibly flat, every turn in the course was 90 degrees, and there were walkers interspersed with the front of the running pack.  One year, a walker dropped a Sony Discman in front of me near the starting line.  The result was similar to rush hour traffic dodging a stalled motorist on the freeway.

Of course, I’ve run Anthem 3 times now, out of 8 5k races that I’ve run overall.  Why would I run such a race if I hated it so?

  1. It’s obscenely flat. [Not as much this year--more on that in a bit]
  2. It’s chip-timed.
  3. It’s raced by some area elites, which is pretty cool–it’s like being Iona in the NCAA Tournament.
  4. The timing, along with the rest of the Louisville Triple Crown of Running, is perfect for building up to a spring marathon: A 5k, 10k, and 10 miler every other weekend, and then one last mileage build-up week before tapering for the KDF Marathon.
  5. Panera goodies at the end. [I didn't get any this year because my stomach really didn't feel like it.]

This time, the race logistics were greatly improved.  The walkers were separated into a group on a cross street so there wouldn’t be any ugly clashes [physical or emotional] between people moving at paces 5-8 minutes apart.  In order to accomplish this, the race start moved down near the river, which meant that slope going to and coming away from the river would be added in for this year’s race.  I completely did not expect this.  Had I realized this, well–I probably wouldn’t have even shot for a PR.  In hindsight, ignorance is bliss.

Race Report

I started this morning at Heine Bros with coffee and a veggie, egg and cheese panini at 6:30 am.  When I got to the ballpark, I had another “cup” of Heine Bros.  It was at this point that I noticed how that runners and walkers would be separated.

“Good plan,” I thought.

It wasn’t until about 7:30 am [30 minutes before the race start] that I realized that the race course had entirely changed.  I got out near the start about 7:40 am, but stayed in the sunlight until people started lining up at about 7:45 am.  It was about 32 F at the start of the race.  It was freezing in the shade of I-64, by the way. Every muscle in my body was shaking violently for 10 minutes straight.

I had set up my Garmin 305 for auto-lapping every 1k.  I was hitting 4′09″ and 4′10″ kilometers for the first 4 km – about a 20′45″ to 20′50″ pace.  That one hill coming away from the river seemed cruel at that pace and temperature.  Fortunately, there was a slight downhill shortly after that gave me a little momentum pace.

The middle stretch was the typical bargaining with myself to hold pace and feeling a little burn in my lungs and legs.

Coming into the last 1/2 km, I saw a woman that I recognized from several 5k races–mainly because she has passed me mid-race before.  I remember that she lined up about 4-5 seconds in front of me.  This time, she was about 5 seconds in front of me with the finish line in the distance.  I pushed the pace to see if I could pull up even with her, and managed to pull past her with about 1/10 of a mile to go.  I got out-kicked by a couple of other racers, but their strong finish probably helped me motivate myself to knock a couple of extra seconds off my time.

Finish:  20:36 for 5k, 6:38/mile pace.

Overall Place: 242 / 8516
Gender Place: 211 / 3609
Division Place (30-34 male): 38 / 522

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Mar 6
2010

- Line up in view of starting line. Lookout for anyone with a music playing device, especially if larger than an iPod nano. These participants are in it for the long haul. They will also likely drop their player right at the start.
- Run a sustainable-without-throwing-up pace for the first mile.
- Mile 2: Tell the doubt in your head to be quiet.
- Mile 3: That person 50 yards in front of you needs to be chased down. (insert motivation here)
- last tenth: This is the medieval, charging the battlefield stretch. Close those final 500+ yards as hard as you can.

Good luck.

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Feb 24
2010

[Workout - 6 x 1/2 mile progressive intervals 3:26.9 and faster]

Index card with treadmill speed by mileage marks

I’ve been pitying myself the last couple of weeks.

On February 3, I finished off a stupid 26 mile in 24 hours stunt with an attempted tempo run that turned into a slow limp for the last 3 miles.

My first thought:  “Just like last year.  I’ve injured myself and I’ll be sitting out all spring with injury.”

I biked the next day, and still hurt pretty bad.  What was supposed to be a 66 mile running week for me came to a dead stop at day 3 with 34 miles.  My back hurt, and by Friday, I scheduled yet another physical therapy appointment.

I decided to try normal running on Monday, with painful results:  6 miles in 52:57, but tremendous piriformis pain and lower back pain.  The following day, I decided that I would get my 6 miles in, even if I had to walk them all.  After two miles of progressively faster walking, the piriformis felt loose enough to test it running slowly.  No problems.

However, last week, I bailed on my 7:30/mile pace tempo run after 2 miles.  This past Saturday’s run had me feeling pretty incapable as well.

Needless to say, I’ve been building up apprehension about my first set of 1/2 mile intervals.  I took the index card [pictured] from my last progressive 1/2 mile interval session [over 3 weeks ago] to the treadmill.  The last time I attempted this workout, I got through the fourth set before my legs and lungs quit on me.  Surely, I would barely get through the 4 sets because of my injury.

Well, the piriformis hurts a little from the workout, but I got through 6 full 1/2 mile intervals and added an extra .11 [for 5k of intervals] from the seventh interval.  I probably had legs for one or two more 1/2 miles, but I didn’t want to overdo the workout, coming off of a close call with a longer term injury.

While I did have a real injury brewing, my biggest barrier was my fear of injury.

The only way I’m going to avoid injury is to sit perfectly still.

Then, I’ll never risk an injury.  I’ll also never accomplish anything, either.

Intervals (1/2 mile intervals)
Type Distance Time Total Time Pace Avg HR Max HR Notes
Recovery 1 Mi 9:32 9:32 9:32
Interval 0.5 Mi 3:26.9 12:58.9 6:54 8.7 mph
Recovery 0.25 Mi 2:19 15:17.9 9:16
Interval 0.5 Mi 3:24.5 18:42.4 6:49 8.8 mph
Recovery 0.25 Mi 2:18.5 21:00.9 9:14
Interval 0.5 Mi 3:22.2 24:23.1 6:45 8.9 mph
Recovery 0.25 Mi 2:18.5 26:41.6 9:14
Interval 0.5 Mi 3:20 30:01.6 6:40 9.0 mph
Recovery 0.25 Mi 2:18.5 32:20.1 9:14
Interval 0.5 Mi 3:17.8 35:37.9 6:36 9.1 mph
Recovery 0.25 Mi 2:18.5 37:56.4 9:14
Interval 0.5 Mi 3:15.7 41:12.1 6:32 9.2 mph
Recovery 0.25 Mi 2:18.5 43:30.6 9:14
Interval 0.11 Mi 0:42.6 44:13.2 6:28 9.3 mph

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Feb 20
2010

My long run today was going to be fairly sluggish just because of my piriformis soreness issues lately.  However, I never thought that it would be as dicey or as slow as it was today.  Those who know my running habits and philosophy know that I never run outside with music:  I never need it outside, and I regard it as a safety issue to not be able to hear what’s going on around me.  It should be telling that I didn’t just plan on taking music with me “just in case” for this run, I ended up listening to Pandora for 2 hours of my nearly 3 hour long run.

The base road around the park [Rundill Road] was 80% clear, and there was plenty of road to run on, where the snow had either melted completely or had been reduced to a thin layer of slush.  About half of this road is open to vehicle traffic, and those parts had even mostly dried out.

However, the situation changed when I turned up Uphill Road [see the picture below].  The early part was smoothly packed snow, which was very runnable, but had limited traction.  A few spots further up the hill were dry from complete exposure to the sunlight.  The remainder, on Tophill Road and Uphill Road, were 95% thawed and refrozen packed snow with heel divots, along with melted ATV tracks.

On the way uphill on the refrozen slush, I tried to work with the divots, but my ankles kept turning in different directions with every step.  On the way back, I tried to run in either ATV tracks or the sections of unpacked snow on the road.  Consequently, my already slow 9:50-ish pace slowed to 11 minute pace for a couple of miles, and often much slower than that, despite my effort level never really dropping off.

I should have taken more pictures.  My run time probably wouldn’ t have suffered much.

Even back on Rundill for the reverse loop and back out Southern Parkway for an additional 4 miles, my legs had nothing left.  I felt like I was at mile 24 of a rough marathon.  Don’t get me wrong:  I’ve felt much worse at mile 24 of a marathon, but at least I had the sense of accomplishment of having run 24 miles.

Maybe I should have had trail shoes for this.  Maybe this is a sign that trails aren’t for me.

My legs hurt now.  My quads hurt, but the rest of my legs feel like I’ve been standing up for an entire day without any support or chance to sit down.

Uphill and Rundill Rd at Iroquois Park

RunningAHEAD – Strings_n_88keys’s log: View Workout.

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