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Hudepohl 14k Race Report – 9/17/2016

The Hudepohl 14k is an 8.7 mile race operated by The Flying Pig Marathon. It is the third and final race in the Christian Moerlein Beer Series races.  The race begins and ends on the Cincinnati Riverfront and draws a large circle around downtown, going through the eastern area of downtown, Over The Rhine, and Queensgate before heading back to the riverfront.

Race Preparation

I generally followed the Hal Higdon 15k approach.  I had a few (maybe three) runs where I stopped short of the goal because of heat-and-humidity related issues (dehydration, exhaustion), one of them being a 10 mile run a week prior to the race (I made it through 7.5).

Race Day

I was very concerned with the temperature on race day.  The three days prior to race day indicated that starting-line temperatures would be above 70ºF and rain.

Little bitch, you're fucked!
Mother Nature Hates Me

(Yes, I used that gif a few weeks ago, it applies).  Start-line temperatures were 72ºF. No rain, and none forecasted at that point.

Because of the temperature, I made a few adjustments to my strategy:

  1. Race morning included toast with peanut butter, some coffee, and a milk with my vitamin D pill (this is normal)
  2. I bought a 20 oz water at a local gas station
  3. Sipped coffee on my way to the parking lot
  4. Sipped water while waiting for the start, I had at least 14 oz of water at race start that I carried with me
  5. Took water at the first 3 (of 4) water stops (even with my bottle with me for two of them)- I took a sip of water and dumped the rest on my head
  6. Took a pack of Gatorade chews around the 4.3 mile mark (this is normal)
  7. Took Gatorade at the last water stop – the volunteers had a hose out spraying into the course, which I ran through

My race apparel included shorts… and shoes… socks, too.  And my watch and running belt.  No cell phone (first time for that).

Goals and Results

I had some goals typed into a Google Sheet.  Truthfully, I put them out of my mind because of the heat.

Goal: 1:14:00
Stretch Goal: 1:09:00

My result was a 1:14:38.  Given the temperature, I’m pretty happy, as I really just wanted a PR – my previous PR was a 1:19:48, so a 5:10 PR is NICE!  Had the weather been better, that 1:14:00 would have been beaten!

I Love It When A Plan Comes Togther!
Hannibal is talking about my race plan here…

Mile Splits

1 0:08:31
2 0:08:51
3 0:08:13 0:25:35 – first third
4 0:08:54
5 0:08:25
6 0:08:26 0:25:45 – second third
7 0:08:56
8 0:08:35
0.7 0:05:48 0:23:19 – third almost third

Even better, I passed one of my coworkers on the route.  We lined up next to each other, but after the horn, she sped ahead.  She was maybe 20-30 seconds in front of me at the hairpin turn (roughly halfway), and I passed her just before mile 6.  She has several marathons under her belt, so this was a big deal to me!

Cheers!

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Running Watch?

I have been a long-time cell phone runner.  For years, I ran with an arm band that hugged my bicep.  After developing some type of skin allergy to my last arm band, I decided to take some advice from Meb (in his book) and move to a belt to hold my phone.  This lasted some 500 miles before the “#1 voted” belt pouch broke.

The reason for the cell phone was to track and “just in case”. Considering I never have stumbled on one of those “just in case” scenarios, why not use a watch instead?

Finding a GPS watch is not a small task. It’s like looking at a long shelf of 1,000 beers and trying to pick 6 based on very specific hops, malts, and even water chemistry… Stuff that people wouldn’t know off the cuff.

What I know I need:

  • Basic GPS tracking
  • Alerts for interval training
  • A battery life of at least 6 hours of use
  • A memory of at least 26.5 miles
  • Reasonable waterproofing (rain, sweat)
  • Operating temperature 15° to 100°
  • Basic time function
  • Very fast GPS lock

What I think I want:

  • Sync with Endomondo

I surveyed some coworkers.  I work with 7 runners, 6 of them have completed a half marathon or longer, two (coworker #1 and #3) have run multiple marathons.  The runner that hasn’t run a half marathon can run a 16 minute 5k, so needless to say, these people are as serious (or as crazy) as I am.  Three sent responses, the remainder use their phone.

Coworker #1

I have a Timex Marathon.

Easy to wear compared to a cell phone.

Reliable.

Gets signal quickly and reliably.

Water proof to 3 meters (but not made for swimming).

My version does not have a download feature but I don’t use that anyway.

Chime is hard to hear compared to my old Garmin.

Pace reported is a few seconds off compared to what you get if you calculate it from the time and distance. They must have fixed that bug by now though.

 

Has been very reliable and the price was unbeatable. It’s been through a couple thousand miles and all the environmental conditions you would expect and always works. I think I paid $88. Though not a marquee name in GPS watches, this product has been great.

Coworker #2

I had the Nike one that’s actually a Tom Tom watch with Nike’s logo on it. I did not like it. The tracking always seemed to be a little off. I don’t really run often right now but when I do, I use my apple watch and runkeeper app. If I were to start running more regularly, I would get a Garmin. I rarely hear bad reviews about them.

Coworker #3

I have the Fitbit Surge. I love it. The wrist band started to crack a few weeks ago and they sent me a new one. It has a built in GPS which syncs with a phone app and tells you heart rate, calories burned, steps and gives you a map of your run. It will also monitor your sleep–# of times awake and # of times restless. It’s a lot more costly than [Coworker #1’s] watch, but I wear it all day (and night) long. I also love that it notifies me when I’m getting a phone call or text—it shows who it is and will display the text. I just can’t reply to the text.

My son has the newer model Fitbit, which I think [Other Coworker] also has, but it does not have the built in GPS.

So after a little bit of looking (and talking to coworker #1 about interval training), I came to the conclusion that a Garmin Forerunner 220 might  be the best for me, and I ordered a refurbished one on Amazon for the astonishingly low price of $123.50.  I was tempted to drop down to an older Forerunner, but wasn’t sure about the use or need for ANT+ support and wanted to be closer to the latest technology.

Here’s to running phone-free!

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Hudy 14k 2016: Keys to the Race

The Hudepohl 14k Brewery Run is different this year.  Because of the new Cincinnati Streetcar, the route had to change- it’s  backwards!

The new route:

Miles 1-4 are net-uphill.  The highest point of the race is right at the Mile 4 marker, right at the Brighton Bridge.  Eggleston seems flat (it’s not), Reading is uphill, Liberty has a gigantic hill, and McMicken is one long uphill slope.

Key #1: Don’t burn it all on the first half – work for a negative split

Miles 4 – 8.25 are net-downhill, and right after a steep downhill starting at the Brighton Bridge, and at the bottom of that steep slope is the second water stop.  Initially, my plan is going to be to skip that water stop and keep my momentum for the loop around Central/Linn/Bank/Colerain/Harrison.  Harrison is a pretty big slope down from that area, so it’s a good momentum builder for the turn onto Spring Grove.  That being said, I expect to grab water at stops 1 and 3 only, although that’s subject to change based on weather conditions.

Key #2: Plan water stops appropriately

Miles 8.25 to the end is flat, but has an uphill that will be right at the finish line.  That’s not unlike the prior years where there was an uphill slope that started at Mehring and Broadway.

Key #3: Save some for the end

The last thing that bears note – two years ago, the weather was perfect running weather, last year was a little warm…

Key #4: Dress appropriately for the weather

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August 2016 Monthly Recap

It’s the end of August. Time for fall, football, Oktoberfest, and hopefully a few PRs.

In August, I intended to run 116.5 miles.  I ran 118.52 miles.  My average pace was slower by a second, but it was mostly due to extreme heat coupled with a more loaded running plan (I ran 23 miles more than in July).  On the few days where the humidity was down, I was able to bust out some decent runs and not end up looking like I swam across the Ohio River.

I had two short XC races in August – the NKU XC Series race #2 and the NKU XC Series Brian Rohne Championship Race.

Race #2: 16:57
Race #3: 16:56

In both cases, these do not match the official results.  This is not a chip-timed race, so I went by my watch.

Planned for September

Hudepohl 14k. Slightly new course this year, and they reversed it, which means that the race strategy is totally different.  The first nearly 4 miles are net-uphill with one major hill (Liberty Street).  There is a significant downhill going through mile 4 with a short but not-insignificant uphill right where the mile 5 marker is, followed by a downhill slope and mostly flat to rolling into the finish at just shy of 9 miles.

Old Hudepohl Brewery, 8/16/16
Old Hudepohl Brewery, 8/16/16

Upcoming

An October to build up, and a half marathon in November? We’ll see…

Cheers!

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July 2016 Month Recap

The books are closed on July. I planned to run 96.5 miles, but ran 95.35. Close enough. I spent 15:01 running; the monthly overall pace was 9:27 min/mile. This is the slowest I’ve been since January (when I was just getting back into things and affected by snow), and that’s pretty much entirely due to the humidity. Even our local National Weather Service office noted the high humidity:

The humidity was a force to be reckoned with.  I had a few runs that I’d consider ‘bad’ from the standpoint of going out only part of the distance and making it to exhaustion before the end of the planned run.  I had many days where I returned from a run soaking wet – like I had been swimming.

I had one race in July – the first of three NKU Cross Country Series 3.2k races. My time was 17:31, which is probably a PR.  Two more of those to go in August.

Planned for August

116.5 miles
2 races, both 3.2k cross country

I wish I could hope for better weather, but this is Cincinnati, and August is usually a humid Hell.  The evening cross country races are going to be hard.

Later This Year

532.35 miles planned (August – December), including 4 100+ mile months.

Two races, a 14k and a half marathon.

Total for the year

544.4 Planned Miles
553.58 Ran Miles
85:59:03 Hours Ran
9:19 minutes per mile average pace

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Double Juxtaposition: A Story

jux·ta·po·si·tion, /jəkstəpəˈziSH(ə)n/, noun: The fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect.

It’s in the 80s here in Cincinnati in the morning, and the humidity is hellish.  I’ve been driving to the office and then running in the mornings and without a shirt on.  I’ve been hoping that nobody is around when it is time to ride the elevator up to the fourth-floor locker room to shower, if anything to remove the awkwardness of it all.

A few days ago, that wasn’t the case.  I finished my run (goal of 5.5 miles, went 5.65 miles) and slowed to a walk next to the office building.  In front of me, I see an employee of another firm in the office building walking across the street.  She was walking at a bad pace, slow enough that I didn’t want to walk behind her but fast enough that going around her to enter the building and go up the elevator would have been a little bit of a douche move.

So I ended up on the elevator with this lady.  She is overweight (which is unfortunately not uncommon), but not an extreme fatass.  However, I noticed that she was breathing very heavily.  I was not.

The walk from the parking lot to the elevator is around 350 feet and includes 10 steps up two flights of stairs.

So here I am, breathing normally but in running clothes (well, shorts and shoes), across the elevator from a lady who is dressed in business casual breathing heavily.  Juxtaposition.

This story is real.  No names have been changed because there aren’t any.

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NKU Cross Country Series Race Recap

The NKU Cross Country Series is the replacement of the Brian Rohne Memorial 5K.  Instead of being a 5K on a Saturday night in mid-August (also known as Hell in the Greater Cincinnati Area), they’ve moved it to three Tuesday nights in late July – early August (still known as Hell in the Greater Cincinnati Area).  They’ve also moved the distance down from 5K to 3.2K (3.1 miles to 2 miles)

There’s a few advantages to the move – one is that NKU’s campus is all concrete, so moving to a cross country course on grass means much less intense heat.  The shorter distance means that everyone should be able to complete it without puking (having watched the race only once, I’m going based on eyewitness reports that at least one person would puke near the finish line of the 5K).  The dirt/trail short race is a combo that isn’t easily found in the region – this isn’t the only, but there isn’t many.

The Course

The course is partially in the woods and partially in the open (which is sunny and shady).

Important things:
0.00 Start
0.54 Into the woods
0.80 Turnaround 1
1.09 Out of the woods
1.23 Turnaround 2
1.35 Rejoin the outbound course
2.00 Finish line

Goals

15:30.

Race 1

Conditions: 82°F, very humid, sunny

Time:17:31 (both watch and official time agree!)

Remarks: the course had some slippery spots after a storm earlier in the day.  This made the course a little difficult because i only have my road shoes. My pacing was horrible (8:16/9:15).  I ran with a tank top on, but I wish I didn’t.

Race 2

Conditions: mid-80s, humid, somewhat cloudy

Time: 16:57 (my watch, a bit different from the official time of 17:10.39)

Remarks: The cloudiness was nice, and the course was dry, which was remarkably better than last week.  Pacing was a little better, 8:07/8:50.  I also realized that while the racing ‘line’ goes along a horrible side-slope, if I drop down to the left, the slope isn’t as bad.

Race 3

Let me preface this with this, which I think is what Mother Nature was saying to me as there were torrential downpours in the afternoon:

Little bitch, you're fucked!
Mother Nature Hates Me

That being said…

Conditions: 81, humid, course a little soft, but apparently the rain mostly missed Highland Heights

Time:16:56 (again, my watch, a little different from the official time of 17:13.72)

Remarks: My pacing was just as terrible as last week: 8:05/8:49.  It felt a little easier going out and back in, although that last quarter mile is tough.  But I get an age group award (second in my division, out of two, and the first person in my age group ran 12:08!)

Overall

2 Miles is a pretty hard distance.  It’s long enough that it isn’t a sprint, not long enough to get into a groove.  I didn’t meet my goal, but the weather was really working against me.

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Training Plan Adjustments

I have been racking my brain over how to handle a training plan that wants 4, 5, and 6 mile run days on days that I was going to do 2 mile cross-country races (three as part of a series).

I think I’ve figured out what I’m going to do:

  • Monday will be a 3 mile easy run ending with 5 strides (so more like 3.5)
  • Tuesday will have two runs, an easy run in the morning (2, 3, 4 miles) and a hard run in the evening (XC race)
  • Wednesday will be hills, 5-ish miles

The evening XC race will be my speedwork for the week, although if I feel the need I may add a fast-finish into a Thursday workout instead of strides or in addition to strides.

In other news, I made a doctor’s heart skip a beat today.  I told him I wanted to make sure all my bone issues are cleared up because I want to run a half marathon in the fall.

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Training Plan Approach

I’m my own coach, and this is about my process of getting and adjusting training plans.  It’s loosely based on the process described in You (Only Faster)*, although I’ve started with Hal Higdon plans as opposed to the 5 day/week plans in You.

My main adjustments are:

  • My long run day is Friday
    I’ve found that I have no motivation after working the week and waking up in a house that I don’t have to leave at the buttcrack of dawn.  I have a wife, I have kids, and Saturday and Sunday mornings are spent with them.  This usually means moving the Saturday long run to a Friday rest day, sometimes it means moving more stuff around.
  • Taper Week adjustments
    Since not all races happen on Sunday and since I usually have 1-2 days extra, I have to adjust taper week.  I stick to the same idea of the plan, usually adding to Monday and Tuesday
  • Adjusting for things to avoid
    With my history of injuries and because I’m old and overweight, I do not schedule hard days adjacent to long days or other hard days.  My normal “excersizing” progression is hills**, easy, speedwork, easy, distance (usually long-slow, but sometimes I mix in a fast-finish week).  I generally try to keep to this, even if it isn’t specifically called for in the plan.

Notes:

* one of these days, I am going to use Greg McMillan’s half-marathon plan.  The first long runs in the plan are 14-16 miles, though, and I’m just not ready for that!

** I don’t do hills the same way as what most coaches indicate.  I use a route that is largely uphill for the first half.  I work in downtown Cincinnati, so my ‘hill run’ is northbound up Eggleston Avenue to Gilbert to Eden Park Drive and then crossing over from Eden Park Drive/Victory Parkway to Gilbert Avenue .  Starting and ending at Pete Rose Way and Eggleston Avenue, I’ve found that crossing over Kemper Road is 4.5 miles, crossing at McMillan Road is around 5.5 miles, crossing over Taft Road is around 6 miles, and crossing over MLK Drive is 7 miles.

Hill from Hell Route
Hill from Hell Route

Recordkeeping

My main planning record is a Google Spreadsheet that looks something like this:

Running Planning and Tracking Spreadsheet
Running Planning and Tracking Spreadsheet

This gives me some places to make notes (the bright cyan box is when I got new shoes!) and it holds notes (which I can also leave as comments).  I also use colors – the snot green is completed weeks, and I tend to use yellow for important things as well, like in the below.

Planned Spreadsheet
Planned Spreadsheet

This is it in a nutshell, and it isn’t perfect (for example, I haven’t figured out what to do on those days where I want to run the NKU XC series but also run 4, 5, or 6 miles).

Stats So Far

450 miles run this year
69 hours, 44 minutes spent running
Average pace of 9:18 minutes per mile

/A

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Race Report: Flying Pig 10k

The Flying Pig 10k was on April 30, 2016 held in downtown Cincinnati, Newport Kentucky, and Covington Kentucky.

The Route

The race route is shown below.  The race starts in front of Great American Ballpark (where the Reds play), proceeds down a hill and then uphill across the Taylor Southgate Bridge into Newport Kentucky.  Once across, the race proceeds downhill to the Ohio River via “Riverboat Row”.  The race continues (flat) under the Purple People Bridge and the Taylor Southgate Bridge and then back up a slight incline to 4th Street in Newport.  The route proceeds uphill and west into Covington where it flattens out before going uphill and across the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge.  Once across, the race proceeds back onto Second Street in downtown Cincinnati (downhill and uphill) where the race continues east across The Banks and then sinks into the lower east area of downtown.  After snaking through this area with a slight uphill heading north and then turning south at a slight downhill, the race makes the final turn towards the west onto Pete Rose Way with a slight up-down-up to the finish line.

Flying Pig 10k Map
Flying Pig 10k Map

Preparation

After coming back from The Injury on December 11, I began running at ~3 miles per run, 3 days per week (although the Christmas Holiday Season was a little more spotty.  I moved up to 4 days per week (again, ~3 miles per day) on the week of January 11.  I made it up to 5 days per week (my target) on the week of February 1 (one of those days was a 2 mile day, the rest ~3).  I slowly ramped up my long run and by the week of March 19, I was hitting 6 mile long runs on Fridays.  My long run remained there as I worked on other runs – added 5 strides after my easy runs (Tuesdays and Thursdays) and incorporated speedwork on Wednesday (and while not intended, my Monday runs were essentially tempo runs).

Taper week was a “normal” run on Monday, intervals (total mileage of 3.5, about one 0.25 mi interval less) on Tuesday, an easier run on Wednesday, a shorter 2 mile run on Thursday, the Little Kings Mile Race on Friday evening, and then the 10k on Saturday.

Race Day

The weather was dreary.  It rained some on my drive in, although it stopped when I got to my work parking lot (I work about a mile from the start area) only to begin again while I waited in a tent for it to get closer to the start time.  It did clear up for the start time, but it remained cloudy throughout the race.

Race day breakfasts for me always consist of some toast and peanut butter and some coffee.  I also had a bottle of water prior to the start.

The race was mostly uneventful… fortunately!  My splits were somewhere around:

  1. 8:30 (estimated)
  2. 8:09
  3. 8:26
  4. 8:27
  5. 8:16
  6. 8:05

These were from Endomondo, which started late and ended later, so they could be a little off.

Throughout the race, I didn’t stop at any water stops, although I made sure I drank a bottle of water and a few cups of Gatorade post-race.

The Medal
The Medal
The Number
The Number