Last Week in Running – March 3, 2018 – Special Bockfest 5k Edition

This is a pull-back week. I was supposed to take Thursday and Friday off and run a half marathon on Saturday, but I really didn’t want to run a 10 mile warm up for a 5k, so I decided to run 10 miles on Thursday, take a break Friday, and run the 5k on Saturday.

Monday was the normal form drills + 4 miles + 7 strides. Many places I normally run were underwater, so I ran where I could and ended up running a little longer. I crossed the Purple People Bridge, ran down 4th Street in Newport and Covington and across the Clay Wade Bailey bridge to Cincinnati and back into Covington via the Suspension Bridge, back across 4th Street into Newport and then back across the Purple People Bridge into Cincinnati. 5.4 miles in 47 minutes.

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Tuesday was a slightly nicer day, and I did 5 miles. Just ran. I did end up going through an area that was muddy due to floodwaters. I crossed the Purple People Bridge, ran across 4th Street taking a short loop across the Newport Floodwall (western side, from 4th to the end near the Taylor Southgate Bridge), and then along 4th Street in Covington and across the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge. I did try to join up to a few guys running across the Clay Wade Bailey bridge, but as they slowed I didn’t, so I ended up passing them. I ran down next to the Schmidlapp Event Lawn and down to the riverfront parks where I had to slow down to go over some wet mud and then back to Pete Rose Way. 5 miles in 45 minutes..

Wednesday was a beautiful morning to run. Things are starting to dry out and I got some of my running areas back, although some places were still “closed” and some were closed to traffic. I did my form drills in the same area I normally do, and went through some of the flatter riverside area until I ran out of room to run, so I ran out of the park, running around a barricade from the ‘closed’ side (parcours style – hop up on a curb and then onto a bench and then back down to the sidewalk) and across the Purple People Bridge and then back across the Taylor Southgate Bridge, scaring an oblivious pedestrian (news flash, pal – there’s a sidewalk here!). Back into the park to stretch (running around the same barricade noted above two more times, the second time probably pissing off the park workers). 5.6 miles in 46 minutes.

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During my lunch on Wednesday, I went out for a walk to a local running store and bought two belt packs. I found that two of the belt packs I own have clasps, buckles, and loops in a very stupid spot – the side. This digs into me and becomes very painful very quick. So I made sure the two I purchased had clasps only on the front. Both are Nathan brand, which I already have a handheld water bottle that is the same as what is used in one of these.

Thursday’s 10 mile run started slow, and it was a rainy day. I was slow on mile 1, which was the start and going up the Purple People Bridge and then again in mile 3, partly due to going up a set of stairs up to the Newport Floodwall. After mile 3 and especially after mile 5, I sped up (not really intentionally until near the end). I’m starting to get back to my normal running areas, although I have to watch the mud still. I ran across the Purple People Bridge, down to the levee and around the parking lot where Joe’s Crab Shack and Burger King are, back to the west floodwall and up the steps to the floodwall. Then across 4th Street into Covington where I ducked onto some side streets to get to the Suspension Bridge. Crossed the suspension Bridge back into Cincinnati where I went west to the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge and crossed back into Covington. Ran down 4th Street into Newport and onto the new portion of KY-9 to get to the Taylor-Southgate Bridge, where I crossed back into Cincinnati and ran along Pete Rose Way to the entrance of Sawyer Point. When I entered Sawyer Point, I had about 0.3 miles left, so I practiced my kick. Despite being 10 miles, I felt oddly good at the end. 10 miles in 1:26:48.

Friday was an off day. Since I didn’t run, I went to packet pickup during my lunch break.

Bockfest 5k

Saturday was the Bockfest 5k. First race of the season. I parked at my work’s parking lot, used the restroom in the office (there was a lot of people there for a Saturday, but I think they were all in the accounting company… tax time), and jogged about 1.5 miles to Bockfest Hall. Tried to use one of the port-o-lets before the race, but the line was longer than the race. I held it and ran hard. According to my watch, 23:05 (which I’d link to Garmin Connect, but it appears to be having issues), according to the official results, 23:13. Per the watch, 7:37, 7:07, 7:31. I’ll take those splits any day! Also, 25th in my division and 148th (out of 2,428) isn’t bad either!

Link to Race on Garmin Connect (will be updated when I or Garmin fixes stuff) • Link to BibRave Review

Cheers!

November 18, 2016

Race Report: Honor Run Half Marathon

Race Date: 11/13/16
Race Location: Florence, Kentucky

Goals:
A: 1:51
B: 1:55
C: <2:01

Preparation

I followed the Hal Higdon Intermediate 2 Plan with one exception – I didn’t do the cross-training. The plan was different than what I’ve been used to – I’ve tended to stick with one speedwork and one long run a week, this had two speedwork and the long run.

The only notable day during training was the 11 mile long run. I had to fly from Cincinnati (where I live) to Raleigh and run there in the middle of the day. Despite bringing water and looking for a good course, I got lost and had an overall tough run (although I did finish it).

Race Day

Conditions: 33, clear. I began the day with coffee and two slices of cheap wheat bread with peanut butter and honey drizzled on top. It takes around 45 minutes to drive to Florence from where I live, so I sipped coffee on the way. At the starting area (a mall), I used the restroom and lined up on the starting line.

Dress: I looked at the temperature where I live, which is around 25 miles ENE from the starting line, and it was 28. So pants, long sleeves, pullover, and gloves. Around mile 3 of the race, I was too warm and took the pullover off and tied it around my waist.

The Course: suburban hell. Lots of very wide streets, all closed. It was interesting to look left and right at intersections and be near the middle of a five-lane-road crossing another five-lane-road, both empty. The first part, start to mile 4.5 is wide open roads. The next part, 4.5 to 7.0 is through the Turfway Park parking lot and a two-lane road with a sharp turn. After that is another wide open road, with some substantial hills, mile 7.0 to 11.4. The final stretch is on a narrow and very hilly road that goes between a golf course and the freeway until it cuts through a parking lot and back onto a major road and then into the mall parking lot.

The race felt fast. At one point (maybe mile 5 or 6), it felt like the miles were just ticking off. It helped some that the field was not huge (there were 875 runners; compared to the Flying Pig Half had over 11,000 runners in the half both years that I ran it, and almost 17,000 runners and walkers in the half, full, and relays). It also helped that I stuck to the tangent line – at times this meant going up less of a hill because of the superelevation (banking) of the turns.

Fuel: I stuck to Gu’s recommendation of 15 minutes before (it was closer to 20). Beyond that, I took Gu at 4.5 and 9 miles, which is the same fueling schedule I’ve used in the past. I took water at the 4, 6, and 10 mile marks.

Official time: 1:50:02, 8:23 min/mile.

Split	Time
1	08:07.1
2	08:17.9
3	08:19.9
4	08:28.7
5	08:31.5
6	08:22.4
7	08:33.7
8	08:07.4
9	08:30.9
10	08:41.4
11	08:30.7
12	08:25.4
13	08:14.9
14	00:52.7

Places:

124 / 875 overall
94 / 400 men
11 / 48 Age Group

Workout on Garmin Connect

Great way to finish the season. Next race is not until March, 5 months from now.

July 25, 2016September 18, 2016

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.