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Honor Run Half 2018 Race Report

There were a few things working in my favor this race, and a few not so much.

Working in my favor: training. As I mentioned on the Race Preview, I had put a lot of time and effort into that advanced training plan. IT. PAID. OFF. I kicked the hills’s asses with little added effort. I felt strong the entire way.

Working against me: the cold and my gut. It was so cold my first fluid was a Gatorade Slushie (lemon-lime, my favorite!). I ran off from that aid station with some leftover Gatorade frozen in my mustache (no joke, and I was quite amused by this). The cold was also so bad that there was a large ice patch in the parking lot within the first mile and some of the aid stations had spread salt around their station to prevent freezing. My gut decided it wanted to aggravate me the entire race. As soon as I crossed the finish line, I walked to the mall to use the restroom (which I probably should have done during the race).

The Breakdown

My pre-race was staying in my car as long as possible until I needed to head towards the start/finish line. I did some light jogging as a warm up and got into the starting grid right at 6:45 as they were starting pre-race ceremonies.

Yes, the water tower says “FLORENCE Y’ALL”. Legend has it that the tower said FLORENCE MALL and people were upset about it advertising for the mall that didn’t pay for the tower, so they took off parts of the M to make a Y.

The first half was largely me not-pushing-myself to ensure I didn’t die out on the second half. There was a large ice patch within the first mile causing everyone to slow down, and I pointed out several smaller ice patches on the mall property. Just past mile 2, there was a large patch that was coned off. The hill in mile 2 was nothing to me. I skipped the first water stop at mile 2 and took Gatorade from the second station at mile 4. Around mile 5, I decided to channel my inner Eluid Kipchoge and try smiling. The first 6 miles were 8:06, 7:44, 7:40, 7:58, 7:51, 7:44. First half split around 51:19. Somewhere around here I took my Gatorade Endurance Gel (apple-pear… my current favorite).

The second half was more me attempting to channel my inner Eluid Kipchoge and smile, keep my gut at a rest, and handle the hills. The hills were the easiest, followed by smiling. The highlights were the mile 8 water station, a ham radio friend standing just past there (out of his vehicle, standing and watching like a badass), and Mr. Red at mile 11.35 noticing my mustache. The lowlight was the mile 10 water station that just phoned it in (they were standing IN FRONT OF the table NOT handing out cups. Seriously, either own your volunteer “job” or GTFO of the way!).

Mr. Red. He has a very large mustache.
Mr. Red. Yeah, he was out in the 22F temps at the Honor Run Half!

The splits were 7:50, 7:38, 7:47, 8:05, 7:57, 7:50, 7:45, and 0:42 (for that pesky 0.1).  Second half split was around 51:14, so a negative split by 5 seconds. Overall time of 1:42:33, which is a PR by 6:20!

There may be more pictures as they become available (last year they provided pictures for free).

Postrace

I didn’t stick around long. On my way from the finish line to the mall (I walked around a little to reduce any leg soreness that would have been experienced if I sat immediately after), I grabbed a chocolate milk and a turkey sandwich. The sandwich was disgustingly salty and I spit out my one bite and dropped the rest in the trash. After using the restroom, I stepped outside and immediately shivered, so I grabbed a goetta sandwich (far less salty than the turkey sandwich) and a bottle of Gatorade and went to my truck.

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Last Week in Running – November 11, 2018

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiits TAPER WEEK! This is the last week of half marathon training for the Honor Run Half Marathon in Florence, KY on November 11, 2018! I’m using Hal Higdon’s Advanced program for this one. If you’re reading this hot off the digital press, I should be an hour into the race.

Next after the Honor Run is the Cincinnati Hungry Turkey Half on November 24, 2018, use this link to sign up for that race (again, affiliate link).

Monday: Intervals – 6 x 0.25 @ 5k pace. Despite getting back in from Portland at 1:00 AM local time AND having my clock radio set for 4:00 AM instead of 4:45 AM, I made it up and out the door at my normal time. Ran in the park and around the small Bengals Practice Field loop and back, extending the run an extra half mile because I was a ways away from where I needed to end up. It was drizzling for a while, but otherwise mild weather. Splits were 1:47, 1:46, 1:45, 1:45, 1:47, and 1:46; the goal was 1:51 – 1:55. Overall, 5 miles in 41:24 (8:16 min/mile pace).

Tuesday: Recovery. Ran across the Purple People Bridge and back across the Taylor Southgate Bridge. It was warm, sunny, and so windy I took my hat off and carried it for most of the run. Seemed odd to run only two miles, but that’s what I did. 2.03 miles in 16:46 (8:16 min/mile pace… consistent with yesterday).

Wednesday: 30 Minute Tempo Run. Ran out around the Bengal’s Practice Field and then back across the parks and into Friendship Park and back. The tempo distance was an exact-ish 4.00 miles (actually, backsolving the pace, it appears I went 3.995 miles), for a pace of 7:30 or 7:31 minutes per mile (depends on what part of my watch you believe). Overall, 5.5 miles in 43:01 for a 7:50 (or 7:51) minute per mile pace.

The distance is 4.00 miles, the time is 30:00.00. The pace is 7:31 per mile. The math is incorrect because 4 miles in 30 minutes is a 7:30 per mile pace.
Math is hard, yo.

Thursday: Recovery. Ran 3 miles across the Purple People Bridge and then back across the Suspension Bridge. It was a cold one (not a beer, the day). While turning from the Newport Floodwall path to the sidewalk across the Veteran’s Bridge, I clipped a pole and knocked the band off one side of my step tracker. It fortunately got stuck in the sleeve of my shirt, but I had to stop to fix it (because it seems there’s a high likelihood that I’d lose it to the Licking River if I didn’t). My pacing was also pretty odd for this one – 9:04, 8:58, 8:12. I kept it easy, though. Total 3.26 miles in 28:22 (8:43 min/mile pace).

Friday: Recovery/Shake off. Ran 2 miles in the park between rains. Some walker tried to scare me (I think), it didn’t work. I guess since I expected him to be stupid (he had been walking in the middle of the path and moved to the right rather slowly), I was ready for anything. It was drizzling during the last half mile or so, and the rain picked up as I was on my last few stretches. A whopping 2.05 miles in 17:09 (8:22 min/mile pace).

Saturday: Rest.

Sunday: RACE!

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Honor Run Half Race Plan and Preview

This is the third time I’ve run this race, but I’m fairly sure I’ve never documented the approach, partly because last year was one of few failures I will claim – I ran the race a week after a major back strain.

Training Differences From Last Year

Last year, I used a modified version of the Hal Higdon Intermediate-2 Plan. That plan calls for five running days and a day of cross-training that I never actually did.

This year, I used a lesser-modified version of the Hal Higdon Advanced Plan. This plan calls for six running days each week.

In both cases, most of my modifications involve moving runs around because I do my long runs on Friday – it is more acceptable to my family to not be gone running for a few hours on Saturday mornings (however, a half hour before everyone wakes up is doable!)

There are three major differences I saw between the two plans: speedwork, distance, and hill repeats.

Speedwork Differences

There is a lot more speedwork in the advanced plan. Because of the aforementioned family schedule, I was running intervals on Monday, a tempo run on Wednesday, sometimes a half-marathon pace run on Thursday, and sometimes a 3/1 long run on Friday. There were times I had three speedwork days in a row. The 2017 plan had two speedwork days a week, but no 3/1 runs and one of them, at times, were HM pace runs.

Distance Differences

Expectedly, the advanced plan has more distance to it. Part of this comes with going from a 5 day/week plan to a 6 day/week, part of it comes from the additional speedwork, and part comes from having some runs based on time instead of distance. The charts below show the distances – both goal and actual. While the 2018 plan is consistently higher, it has a 5k race week in week 3, which reduces the distance, and week #9 (a 15k race week) pulls back more in the 2018 plan. Otherwise 2018 is more distance. The total distance of the plans was 354 miles in 2017, and 393 miles in 2018, so almost a 40 mile difference over the 12 week plan.

Chart showing that the 2018 plan had higher goal distances than the 2017 plan.
These were the goal distances based on the plan and my assumption of distances for timed runs.
Chart showing actual distance ran in both training plans. The 2018 distance ran is higher in all weeks except week 3.
These were the actual miles ran in the training plans.

Hill Repeats

Early in the advanced plan, there are some days of hill repeats instead of speed intervals. I honestly think those hill repeats made for a very good Hudepohl 14k this year, where I ran all miles under 8:00 per mile for the entire race.

  • This was my downtown Cincinnati hill for hill repeats
  • This was my Clermont County hill for hill repeats.
  • This was one in Clermont County I did once. It was HARSH.

This Year

The first improvement about this year is that I will likely not be suffering from a back strain (I’m typing this on Thursday, and the likelihood of straining my back is there, but minimal).

The plan I tend to go into long races is hydration around every 2 miles, and energy gel 15 minutes before and every 45 minutes throughout (it’s the same plan on the back of a Gu). Gatorade has a little less of the essential nutrients than Gu…

GuGatorade
Cal10080
Carbs22g20g
Na60mg90mg
K40mg35mg

I’ve been training with both Gatorade Endurance Gels and Gatorade Endurance, and I’m obviously going to stick with that. The plan’s going to stay with a gel at -15 and +45. If I haven’t hit 10 miles by +90 I’ll take another there, but I’ll likely be in mile 11 or 12 by 90 minutes in. My first half split in the Flying Pig Marathon was 1:49, and I had half a marathon to go in hot conditions (I was being conservative).

Weather might be somewhat of a factor this year, but it’s not heat. Florence, KY tends to trend higher than downtown, but the low is forecast to be in the mid-20s. 

The keys to the race are:

  • Maintain effort on the major uphills
    • There are ‘memorable’ hills in miles 2, 8, 9, 11, and 12. That’s not to say the rest of the race is flat – it’s not at all – but crushing the hills without burning out is one way to net the best time
  • Keep warm before the start
    • Even if it’s in the mid-30s at the start, that’s cold to be in. Shame I don’t have an assistant, so I might be doing warm-up drills in the starting grid
  • Be ready for a long lonely race
    • Unfortunately, crowd support at this race has been limited in the past, and mid-20s temps are not conducive to crowds. I might wear my AfterShokz for this one.
  • BONUS FOURTH KEY: Smile for the camera
    • Last year, the pictures were free 🙂
That’s me giving five to the volunteer last year.
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Last Week in Running – November 3, 2018

This is week 10 of half marathon training for the Honor Run Half Marathon in Florence, KY on November 11, 2018 – 2 weeks left! I’m using Hal Higdon’s Advanced program for this one. If you want to register for this race, use this link, and try using code “BIBRAVE15” for $15 off, courtesy of the fine people of and affiliated with BibRave (note that the link IS an affiliate link, the BibRave code is just one I’ve seen on Twitter).

Monday: Intervals 6 x 0.5 mi @ 10k pace. It was 45(ish) in the morning, I was running late, and not feeling 100% (which factored into a pitstop between intervals 3 and 4). Regardless, got it done, loop around the Bengal’s practice field and then through the park. Goal for splits was between 3:43 and 3:50, actual splits were 3:47, 3:40, 3:39, 3:42, 3:33, 3:42… so the first one wasn’t too fast. I felt fine at the end, even like I could have done more (and that’s a good thing!). Overall, 7.25 miles in 59:38 (8:13 min/mi pace).

Tuesday: Recovery Run. Ran an easy 3 miles and 7 strides across the Purple People Bridge and back across the Suspension Bridge. Saw a fellow runner that I talked to a little at a recent race passing me along Mehring Way. Kept it easy to recover from yesterday’s intervals and not screw over tomorrow’s tempo run or Thursday’s HM pace run. Overall, 4.1 miles in 35:02 (8:33 min/mile).

Wednesday: 60 Minute Tempo Run. Ran through Friendship Park and out to the loop around the Bengal’s Practice Field twice and then back into Friendship Park and ending in Sawyer Point where it began. It was warmer than the past few weeks – the weather has mostly been in the high-30s/low-40s for the past few weeks, today it was 61, but with a strong wind from the west that pushed against me for a while (which later pushed rain into the area on Halloween night… fuck off, Mother Nature!). Cooled down in the grass a little. The tempo portion was 7.54 miles (7:57 min/mile pace); overall 9.04 miles in 1:13:19 (8:07 min/mile pace).

Thursday: 3 Mile HM Pace Run. Woke up early because I have to get hours in at work. Heard HARD rain at 2 and 3 AM, and not much better at 5 AM when I got up. Kept the distance in the parks, Friendship-Sawyer Point-Yeatman’s Cove-Smale-turnaround at Paul Brown Stadium and back through finishing at Sawyer Point. Lots of rain, found several deep puddles, and lots of wind that was pushing against me as I headed east. The HM portion was just over 23 minutes for a 7:40 min/mile pace, overall was 4.5 miles in 36:23 (8:05 min/mile pace).

Friday: 2:00 Long Run. I flew into Portland, Oregon for a weekend meeting, so I flew out of Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky International Airport at the crack of dawn and connected in Seattle to get to Portland, where I landed at noon or so local time. After checking into the hotel, I ran out and got lost a little in a crummy industrial area just south of I-84. I turned back and made my way to the Willamette River to use the Eastbank Esplanade and continued down to the Springwater Path where I continued down to the Sellwater Bridge to cross and then proceed north on the paths along the west side of the river. A good half of the paths ended abruptly, so in a fit of anger I crossed back over Tilikum Crossing to get back to the Eastbank Esplanade. 13.9 miles in 2 hours (8:38 min/mile pace).

Saturday: Recovery Run. Ran north for a bit to cross the N Steel Bridge, which is a double-deck raise/lower bridge where the lower deck is pedestrians and cyclists only. Took that to the west side of the Willamette and stayed on the paths until the watch clicked around 1.5 miles and then turned back and went back the way I came. Slower today, my quads were sore (and they still are 24 hours later!). 3.39 miles in 31:11 (9:11 min/mile pace).

That’s it for the week. Ran 42 miles this week and mostly felt great. Also signed up for another race, the Hungry Turkey Half Marathon on November 24 (affiliate link), so 13 days past the Honor Run. I don’t expect to PR the HTHM unless I flub the Honor Run Half – it’s the goal race for this season.

Next week is an easier week to save the legs and taper down for the Honor Run on 11/11.

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Last Week in Running – October 27, 2018

This is week 9 of half marathon training for the Honor Run Half Marathon in Florence, KY on November 11, 2018 – 3 weeks left! I’m using Hal Higdon’s Advanced program for this one. If you want to register for this race, use this link, and try using code “BIBRAVE15” for $15 off, courtesy of the fine people of and affiliated with BibRave (note that the link IS an affiliate link, the BibRave code is just one I’ve seen on Twitter).

Monday: Intervals. Well, my watch is messed up again, I probably went to sync the workout to correct the same problem two weeks ago, but something happened and it was never corrected (by “something happened”, I mean that someone interrupted me from syncing my watch). So after a solid minute of running, it tried to get me to start the intervals. I dealt with it the same way – run a free mile and then restart the workout on the watch. Through the parks and around the Bengals’ practice field twice. After running straight up to the building (I had to make a full pitstop), 6.79 miles in 53:56 (7:57 min/mile pace). Interval splits were 7:31, 7:15, 7:26, and 7:28. The goal was 7:28 – 7:42, so two were fast and two were on target.

Tuesday: Recovery Run – 3 miles + 7 strides. Ran easy and kept it easy across the Purple People Bridge and then the Suspension Bridge. Even kept it easy after another runner passed me leading up to the Suspension Bridge. Finished with 7 strides. 4.11 miles in 35:01 (8:31 min/mile pace).

Selfie with Lucius Cincinnatus

Wednesday: Tempo Run – 55 minutes. It was COLD, and I found a cold area on the SE area of the park’s path. My mother-in-law passed away on Sunday and her funeral was today, so got out running early, before the rest of the house (and township, for that matter) were awake. I ran the tempo portion with only enough effort to keep in the pace range because the latter half of this week is loaded. Tempo portion was 6.94 miles, for a pace of 7:56 min/mile (the goal range is 7:41 – 7:59 min/mile). Overall including the warm-up and cool-down was 8.44 miles in 1:08:00 (8:03 min/mile).

The video is kinda funny because I was looping around to switch directions

Thursday: HM Pace Run – 5 miles. I kinda expected this run to go off the rails a little. It was cold again. The pace wasn’t really that bad, but I was slower than my target pace. Ran out around the Bengal’s practice field (and after that Chiefs game, they probably should have been practicing) and back in and into Friendship Park and around. HM pace portion was 39:38, a pace of 7:56 min/mile (I was targeting 7:28 – 7:48 min/mile, not yesterday’s pace!). Overall, 6.5 miles in 52:55 (8:08 min/mile pace).

Friday: 2:00 3/1 Run. It was a little rainy (not too bad) and warmer. I ran everywhere (seriously, see the Relive video, I don’t even want to try to describe it!). I did miss a turn in Covington, which added an extra block to the route (not a problem). I ran the first 90 minutes at an 8:50 min/mile pace, an easy effort for me. I ran the remaining 30 minutes at an 8:01 min/mile pace. Fueled with Gatorade Endurance Gel (vanilla flavor, which is very much like birthday cake) and hydrated with Gatorade Endurance Lemon-Lime. Overall 13.94 miles in 2 hours (8:36 min/mile).

I was everywhere. And since relive thinks it’s a half marathon (they’re not wrong), they gave me music!

Saturday: Recovery Run – 3 miles. Ran ~3 miles in the early morning by the few streetlights in the neighborhood and my RunLites. 3.13 miles in 27:29 (8:47 min/mile pace).

That’s it for the week. 43 miles this week, which is the most since I was in the late stages of marathon training. When you get to the advanced training plans they’re all difficult no matter what the distance is that you’re training for.

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Last Week in Running – October 20, 2018

This is week 9 of half marathon training for the Honor Run Half Marathon in Florence, KY on November 11, 2018 – 3 weeks left! I’m using Hal Higdon’s Advanced program for this one. If you want to register for this race, use this link, and try using code “BIBRAVE15” for $15 off, courtesy of the fine people of and affiliated with BibRave (note that the link IS an affiliate link, the BibRave code is just one I’ve seen on Twitter).

This is an easier week because it’s a “race” week, which is really more of a mock race – all the intensity of a race with none of the crowd, support, finish line, medal, or beer.

Monday: Intervals – 5 x 0.5 miles at 10k pace. Ran in the park and all… Wore my heart rate monitor this time, which really doesn’t tell me much because I don’t use it. The interval times were 3:45, 3:44, 3:45, 3:41, and 3:31 (that last one was where I was trying to get to my max heart rate). It seemed like it would be rainy and I was prepared for it, but it didn’t really rain on me while running (just during the commute in). Overall, 6 miles in 48:58 (8:10 pace).

Tuesday: Recovery Run – 3 miles + 7 strides. IT WAS COLD! The temperature was around 40 in the morning. Ran across the Purple People Bridge and back across the Suspension Bridge, ending with 7 strides as I ran into the park. 4.1 miles in 34:29 (8:25 min/mile pace).

Wednesday: Tempo Run – 30 minutes. Ran the normal Friendship park through the parks and past the Bengal’s Practice Field and back. Covered 3.93 in the tempo portion for a pace of 7:38 min/mile, and I didn’t feel drained at the end. Overall, 5.43 miles in 42:47 (7:53 min/mile pace).

Thursday: “Rest” Day. So I’m supposed to rest. But I have this thing…

Fucking Step Counter.

While I hate the thing, it is easiest for me to take a little jog in the park in the morning to get my intensity goal in (3,000 steps in 30 minutes), and that also puts me in a good position for my tenacity goal (10,000 steps in the day) and knocks of one of the frequency goals (6 x 500 steps in 7 minutes). Honestly, I think this entire thing is bullshit and the insurance plan it’s matched up to (United “All Savers”) sucks horribly. Anyway, it was COLD, like 34F cold (that’s like 1C for the rest of the world), but I ran an easy 3.13 miles in 26:24 (8:26 min/mile pace).

Also on Today, I resigned from my job. I was supposed to have tacos for dinner, and while getting some tortilla chips and salsa and forgetting to buy boneless chicken breasts for another meal, I found two bottles of Founders CBS. It was a good day.

Friday: 15k Mock Race. Ran 9.32 miles starting in the park and out around the Bengal’s Practice Field. Then up the hill around Paul Brown Stadium, across the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge, through Covington where I yelled at someone for not using a leash, and then back across the Purple People Bridge. 9.32 miles in 1:11:40 (7:41 min/mile pace).

Saturday: Recovery Run. Ran just over 3 miles in the neighborhood. Weather was a bit warmer than the past few days. 3.03 miles in 25:25 (8:23 min/mile pace).

Overall, that’s 31 miles for the week. It’s a pull-back from the prior week, but next week will be back up to major miles.

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Last Week in Running – October 13, 2018

This is week 8 of half marathon training for the Honor Run Half Marathon in Florence, KY on November 11, 2018. I’m using Hal Higdon’s Advanced program for this one. If you want to register for this race, use this link, and try using code “BIBRAVE15” for $15 off, courtesy of the fine people of and affiliated with BibRave (note that the link IS an affiliate link, the BibRave code is just one I’ve seen on Twitter and I get nothing if you use it… so you might as well use it!).

Monday: Speed Work – 3 x 1 mile Intervals at HM Pace. I started a little early because of a morning meeting that required me to print something over the weekend. The printer jammed, so I unjammed the thing (or so I thought) and went on to go running. Went to do my form drills and there was tables, chairs, and a storage container (one of those big truck containers) in the way, so skipped and started. Then, my watch starts beeping at me ONE MINUTE after I start to signal warm-up to first interval. I wasn’t really warmed up, so I stopped it and checked it out – workout was incorrectly setup (to a 1:00 warm up instead of a 1.0 mile warm up). Ran a mile and then restarted the workout. All of this on a very humid and dark morning. Splits were 7:29, 7:34, 7:28. Total workout was 5.63 miles in 45:31 (8:05 min/mile pace). Oh, and the printer didn’t work even after I cleaned up and tried multiple times.

via GIPHY

Tuesday: Recovery Run – 3 mi + 7 strides. Ran across the Suspension Bridge and back across the Purple People Bridge. Nothing much to report except humidity and that it’s the last day of normal. 4 miles in 34:04 (8:30 min/mile pace).

Wednesday: Tempo Run – 50 minutes. It was a bit humid, although not overly hot. Ran from the Sawyer Point entrance through Friendship Park, back through the parks and around the Bengal’s Practice Field and the rest of the West Pete Rose Way loop back through the parks and through Friendship Park again. Tempo portion was 6.28 miles in 50 minutes for a 7:58 minute per mile pace, within the goal of 7:41 to 7:59 min/mile. Altogether, 7.78 miles in 1:03:14 (8:08 min/mile pace). After my run on Wednesday, I was called home for a family emergency and the rest of the week went kinda sideways a little. My mother-in-law was found to have a brain tumor last Wednesday, and today the tumor hemorrhaged. This is seriously bad news and later that day my MIL was sent home and under hospice care. The day ended with some much needed good news, although I’m not at liberty to discuss it… yet.

Post run sunrise

Thursday: 5 Mile Half Marathon Pace. It was a little less humid, which was nice. Ran the miles in the local park EARLY. Like 5:45 AM early. My goal pace for this is 7:28 to 7:48, but since I was after a long tempo run on Wednesday, it was all I could do to keep the HM portion under 8 minutes a mile. Ran the HM portion in 39:21, which is 7:52 min/mile pace. The entire run was 6.5 miles in 52:36 (8:06 min/mile pace).

Spooky!

Friday: 1:45 Long Run. Ran a few laps around the local park, then into the neighboring subdivision and across a dirt construction path into the soon-to-be adjoining subdivision. Fueled with Gatorade Apple-Pear gel and hydrated with Gatorade Endurance. The temperature fell, and it was quite cold – I had been used to the upper-50s at the lowest, this was low-40s, so gloves (and my RunLites on them, whose battery died during the run) and a long sleeve shirt were in order. 11.85 miles in 1:45:00 (8:52 min/mile pace).

Saturday: Recovery Run – 3 miles. The day started with me going into downtown to assist with communications for the Queen Bee Half Marathon. After being released from duty a half hour early, I went for a run in the park. First off, I saw a barge heading upstream… and I’m a sucker for racing barges (and trains, too). Then, after crushing the barge, I received a call from my wife – which was freaky because I thought it was news of her mom passing. Instead, she was calling to tell me that my niece ran in the Queen Bee Half – her first half. Somehow, even with slowing during the call, I ran a progressive 3 “recovery” (*cough*) miles at 7:55, 7:41, and 7:37. Total of 3.03 miles in a way-too-fast 23:26 (7:44 min/mile pace).

That’s it for the week. About 39 mostly-fast miles. Heading for a fast half marathon next month.

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Last Week in Running – October 6, 2018

This is week 7 of half marathon training for the Honor Run Half Marathon in Florence, KY. I’m using Hal Higdon’s Advanced program for this one. If you want to register for this race, use this link, and try using code “BIBRAVE15” for $15 off, courtesy of the fine people of and affiliated with BibRave (note that the link IS an affiliate link, the BibRave code is just one I’ve seen on Twitter and I get nothing if you use it… so you might as well use it!).

Monday: 4 x 0.5 mile @ 10k pace. Ran through Friendship park and back to and around the Bengal’s Practice field. This is an area I know well (if you’ve read this blog, you’d recognize this!). However, something seemed up with the watch this morning – usually 1 mile is at the turnaround, this time it was way after. Then my watch kept telling me paces that seemed very slow for how hard I was running. Well, I wasn’t crazy, it was off. The half mile splits were kinda all over the place – 3:40, 3:26, 3:47, 3:29. There was a lot of fog out and I had a lot of difficulty keeping my glasses clear enough to see through. In fact, interval #3 had a slow patch because I was running a road on the opposite side of normal where there’s no sidewalk, and I couldn’t see the edge (I thought I was going towards the middle 😲). Overall, 5.26 miles in 43:34 (8:17 min/mile pace).

Tuesday: Recovery Run – 3 miles + 7 strides. The humidity kicked up today, but ran the Purple People Bridge and back across the suspension bridge, finishing my 7 strides in Sawyer Point. 4 miles in 33:56 (8:29 min/mi).

I couldn’t resist stopping to take this picture. Cincinnati skyline from Newport.

Wednesday: Tempo Run – 45 min. Kept it along the river because it’s mostly flat. Humid weather again. The tempo portion was 5.65 miles at a 7:58 min/mile pace, overall was 7.15 in 58:11 (8:08 min/mile pace). Unfortunately during my shower, my wife contacted me because of a family emergency – her mother is in the hospital.

Thursday: 4 HM Pace. Despite my multiple checks, my wife sent me to work. Weather was humid and legs were a little tired after yesterday’s tempo run. The HM portion was 4 miles in 32 minutes, a pace of 8:01 minutes per mile (a few seconds slower than my goal range). Overall, 5.5 miles in 45:21 (8:15 min/mile pace).

Friday: 1:45 3/1. The weather laid off the humidity a little and the temperature was lower, which was nice, but at this point my legs were more than a little tired. The first 3/4 was out along Eastern Avenue and covered 8.87 miles in 1:18:45 (8:52 min/mile pace), and the last quarter – which was supposed to be at HM pace – was 3.17 miles in 26:15 (8:16 min/mile pace). Overall, 12.05 miles in 1:45:00 (8:43 min/mile pace).

Saturday: Recovery Run – 3 miles. Ran a few late loops in the neighborhood. The weather was a tad warm, but a little less humid than earlier in the week. It was tough, my quads are a little sore from the week. 3.07 miles in 26:14 (8:33 min/mile pace).

That’s the end of a tough week. 37 mostly tough miles to start October. Next week isn’t any easier, it’s similar to this one with speedwork, tempo, and an HM pace run. The only differences are the specific intervals and the long run isn’t a 3/1 run.

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Last Week in Running – September 29, 2018

This is week 6 of half marathon training for the Honor Run Half Marathon in Florence, KY. I’m using Hal Higdon’s Advanced programfor this one. If you want to register for this race, use this link, and try using code “BIBRAVE15” for $15 off, courtesy of the fine people of and affiliated with BibRave (note that the link IS an affiliate link, the BibRave code is just one I’ve seen on Twitter and I get nothing if you use it… so you might as well use it!).

This week seemed tough. In fact, I was making jokes about my legs falling off on Reddit because of the race last Saturday, Speedwork on Monday, Tempo Run on Wednesday, HM Pace Run on Thursday, and a long run on Friday.

Monday: Speedwork, 8 x 0.25 mi Intervals. It was a rainy morning and I didn’t go all out for these, partly because of coming off the race on Saturday. My splits were 1:48, 1:43, 1:41, 1:43, 1:48, 1:36, 1:43, 1:42, which were all much better than expected. Overall, 5.25 miles in 41:49 (7:58 min/mile pace).

Tuesday: Recovery. Ran 3 miles and 7 strides across the Purple People Bridge and back across the Suspension Bridge… Had to finish the workout as close to the office door as possible due to needing a full pitstop. 4 miles in 34:45 (8:39 min/mile).

Wednesday: 45 Minute Tempo Run. It was rainy and humid and it felt HARD. I felt like I was struggling to keep my watch from beeping throughout the entire tempo portion of the run. Ran through the park to and around the Bengals Practice Field twice, and then back through the park to the far end of Friendship Park. Tempo portion was 5.64 miles in 45 minutes, a pace of 7:35 min/mile. Overall, 7.14 miles 58:22 (8:10 min/mile pace).

Thursday: 3 Miles HM Pace. Kept it in the park again. The temperature broke yesterday and it was 15 F cooler than yesterday. And there was no rain. I ran the HM portion in 22:46, a pace of 7:35 min/mile. Overall, ran 4.5 miles in 36:12 (8:03 min/mi pace).

Friday: 90 Minute Long Run. Weather was foggy and chilly – I wore gloves and a long sleeve shirt for the first time this season. Ran out Friendship Park and back to warm up, and then ran across the Purple People Bridge, across into Covington and along the Riverfront Trail to the end and turned around and ultimately crossed the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge. Then went back to Kentucky across the Suspension Bridge and back to Ohio across the Taylor Southgate Bridge. 1 river, 5 bridges (I never mention the Veteran’s bridge, because it’s a short one). Hydrated with Gatorade Endurance and fueled with a pack of Vanilla Gatorade Gel. 10.38 miles in 1:30:00 (8:40 min/mile pace).

Saturday: Recovery Run. Got up late because my wife and one of my kids and I were out late at King’s Island’s Halloween Haunt. Ran 3 miles in the subdivision. 3.04 miles in 26:23, a pace of 8:41 min/mile, which was much better than anticipated.

That’s it for the week. 34 miles. There’s another tough week coming up, although the focus changes a little as I see that hill repeats are out and I’ll be sticking to intervals on Mondays. Cheers!

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Hudepohl 14k (2018) Race Report

The Hudepohl 14k was held on September 22, 2018. This is a 14 km (8.67 mile) race that circles downtown Cincinnati.

Training and Lead-up

I have been training for a half marathon later in the fall, and have not done any race-specific training for this. My lead-up week to this was 8 hill repeats on Monday, recovery 3 mile + 7 strides on Tuesday and Thursday, 30 minute tempo on Wednesday, and a 3 mile easy fitness run on Friday.

Race Day

The humid Cincinnati weather broke for some very nice race day weather. I had been distracted all week, so I didn’t go into this with any sort of plan. I lined up close to the front and was off.

Miles 1-2 are the toughest and are mostly uphill. I kept with the crowd and looked at my watch when it beeped for the miles. After seeing the first two – 7:33 and 7:47, I wasn’t sure if I could hold up but I was off to a good start and felt good.

Miles 3-5 still felt good, and borderline great. Mile 4 has a hairpin and as I went on the backside of the hairpin so I could see the people that were trailing me, I looked for a few coworkers and didn’t see them. I knew I started ahead of them so this kept me going strong. Splits were 7:23, 7:36, and 7:11. Took Gatorade just past the mile 5 marker.

Miles 6-8.67 started feeling tough. This was a net downhill and the pack had thinned out, so I was trying to stay near others because the cops were letting drivers cut through gaps. The 7k rejoined us around mile 7.75 and mostly stayed to one side, through West Pete Rose Way, I kept to the left (most of the walkers stayed to the right), and once the race got to the final stretch on Mehring Way, course monitors were telling 7k walkers to stay to the left and 14k runners to stay to the right… so we had an express lane to the finish. Splits of 7:18, 7:33, 7:32, and 4:58 (0.67 miles, pace was 7:24 min/mile).

Overall time of 1:04:51, which is a pace of 7:28 minutes per mile. This is the fastest long race for me, and my first race as a 40-year-old. I placed 13/99 in my age group, 113/874 among all males, and 142 overall. Nice!