For the last few years I've enjoyed spending a couple consecutive Sundays running out east at Horse Butte and then West in Sisters. Every year I use one or both of these races to test my fitness coming out of winter, and heading into the racing season. Each year I've run, the weather has been about as different for each event as it could be with the event in Sisters benefitting perhaps from being scheduled one week later on the calendar.
The Horse Butte 10 miler put on by my friends at Footzone was the first of the events, taking place on a nasty day on the last Sunday in March. My goal going into the race was to run close to last year's time of 57:12. I had done a time trial on the course a week before and was about the same as last year, just under an hour. For the race itself though, I'd have to say that I was having an off day. It could have been the 30 degree weather and 30 mile an hour winds, but I just never got into a good groove that day. It was one of those races where you'd be running along and then realize, "Hey, I'm not really going that fast." I'd try to pick up the pace and that would hold for a little while, but then I'd relax again without realizing it and slow back down. My time at the finish was a disappointing 58:50. It was my third win in three tries at Horse Butte but I was noticing the rest of Bend is catching up. Whereas I had won the race by about 5 minutes each of the last couple years, this year it was less than 3 minutes to a hard charging and quickly improving Damon Kluck. It makes me wonder, how many more victories am I going to be able to enjoy? At least one more as it turned out...
This last Sunday was The Peterson Ridge Rumble put on by another friend of mine, Sean Meissner. I met Sean several years back when he used to work at the Footzone. Sean begged a ride off of my wife out to the start line of 30K road race. After getting to talking, he invited me to come out to his house for a 17 mile trail race he was holding in Sisters. I came out to the race only to find a handful of ultra runners and their dogs. It was a fun event at the time, but it's definitely changed for the better now.
For this year's race I had been thinking of running the 60K instead of the shorter 30K option for a while. When I saw that the event would be cut short to 55K because of snow conditions it helped to make my decision easier. This would be my first ultra!
I have to admit that I was a bit nervous when I got to the starting line. It was kind of like my first Ironman race in that I didn't really know how my body would handle it. At the same time though, I have to admit that I was excited. I thought that if I could just run my normal training pace for 4 hours straight, I would have a pretty good day. As the race began 2 guys shot off the start line. One of them was a bit of a poser who dropped off after about 50 yards, the other was Lanny Gower, who had won the Hagg Lake 50K earlier in the year. Lanny led through the first mile of 6:37 and almost immediately started complaining that the pace was too fast. The next miles were 6:36 and another 6:37 so I knew that if nothing else, at least we were running even. At this point I was starting to pull ahead of Lanny and by about 4 miles, I never saw him again. The next 3.5 hours were awesome. I just enjoyed the beauty of God's creation on one of the most beautiful day you could ask for. One would think that it might be boring to be out there running by yourself for so long but the trail kept me busy with tricky footing, and the views kept me distracted enough that it never really got to be too bad. I also kept my eye on my heart rate monitor to make sure that I didn't go too much over 160. I was fairly confident that I could hold that effort for the duration. I just kept covering ground and hitting new aid stations every 5 miles or so. A Gu and a cup of Coke is what looked good when I got there so that what I took. It seemed to work pretty well.
Being that there was never a true mile marker I will have to admit that catching a view of the parking lot where the start/finish line was felt really good. Not because I was dying, but because I was still feeling pretty decent and I wanted to finish that way. Once I hit the track I decided to kick it in a little bit. Of course I was saving my strength though for the hurdle. You see, for some crazy reason Sean always puts a hurdle on the home straight, about 30 yards from the finish. I was actually thinking about that hurdle at the beginning of the race, wondering if I'd have the strength to clear it at the end; it turned out not to be that bad. Maybe next year Sean should put out a Steeple chase barrier, that would scare some people away for sure!
So that was my first ultra! 4:02:01. It came out to around 7 min. pace for an average on my garmin, not exactly flying but not that bad either considering the kind of shape the trail was in. I was pleased that my last mile was actually my fastest (6:20). Now it's got me hungry for more...marathons are for wimps!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
A Step (OK, a few) in the Right Direction: The Napa Valley Marathon
Well it's about time I update my curious public about my experience at the Napa Valley Marathon. Overall, it was an improvement over my race at Carlsbad and clearly a step closer to my pre-surgery running form.
First you should know my excuse, I was sick. In my mind, pretty significantly sick since I had lost my voice due to a lingering cold and sore throat. But as anyone who has heard my Boston Marathon story knows, that wasn't going to stop me from running.
Before the race I met up with Marathonguide.com teammate Peter Gilmore who was also entered in the race. Peter was treated it more as a training run than an actual race since he is still thinking about running at Boston or possibly London in April. Peter ran 2:12 at Boston a couple of years back and he's getting back to that form now. He told me his plans before the race and that kind of affected my strategy more than it should have. I also decided to wear my heart rate monitor for the first time in a marathon. I thought it might be good to get some numbers to crunch afterwards.
We woke up in the morning to a pouring rain. Something I grew used to in Portland and Seattle where I first started running, although not what I wanted considering my cold. Peter and I were shuttled out to the race start by the race directors which was cool on one hand since we got to sleep in much longer than the rest of the participants, but on the other, it meant we only got to the start about 15 minutes before. Just enough time for the bathroom and changing clothes, no warm up.
When the race started Peter and I were quickly joined by "The Beast" James Nielsen, who is the course record holder at the Eugene Marathon and a former World Cross Country participant. We strolled through the first mile in 5:43, when Peter said, "Perfect" I thought I might be able to drop it down to 5:30's and get away from he and James. I kept and eye on my heart rate monitor making sure I didn't tip over 180 but the pick up in pace dropped Nielsen after a mile or so, meanwhile Peter was not running with me, but just a few seconds back. And that the way it went for several miles. My five mile split was 27:37 with av. heart rate of 170, The next five were 27:28 but the average went up to 177. I was still feeling good and ahead of Peter so I kept soldiering on. 15 miles showed a slight slow down as my split was 27:46 (5:33 pace) and 177 average. At this point Peter pulled even with me. I told him I was slowing a bit and I knew he was still planning to pick it up over the last 9 miles so he pretty much had the race in hand by then.
We ran together for miles 16 and 17 and then he put in a big surge. He dropped me easily and the rest of the race was spent by me holding on to the pace as well as I could and just trying to get to the finish. My 15-20 mile split was 28:08 and 176 average. My 20 mile time was 1:51:01. The next 5 were my slowest in 29:05 and my heart rate just stayed the same at 176. I guess as you get tired, it takes the same heart rate to maintain a slower pace. Or said another way, to keep an even pace, my heart rate would have to steadily climb over the course of the race.
My final time was 2:27:23 which is a 5:37 pace. Peter ended up running a 2:23 and James Neilsen finished at 2:31.
Overall, I was pretty happy about taking off over 4 minutes in the 5 weeks between the Calsbad race and this one. I also realized that the heart rate monitor can help me pace a bit better. I think I should try to kept it under or at 170 for the first half. It's kind of a nice tool to have for that reason. You don't have to worry about hills or wind and holding a certain pace, you can just rely on the monitor to make sure you're working at a level that you can maintain for the entire race.
anyway, I get a nice luxurious 9 week break between marathons now as I won't run one again until May 3rd. At least that's the plan. That doesn't mean I might not sneak in an "ultra" between now and then though.
First you should know my excuse, I was sick. In my mind, pretty significantly sick since I had lost my voice due to a lingering cold and sore throat. But as anyone who has heard my Boston Marathon story knows, that wasn't going to stop me from running.
Before the race I met up with Marathonguide.com teammate Peter Gilmore who was also entered in the race. Peter was treated it more as a training run than an actual race since he is still thinking about running at Boston or possibly London in April. Peter ran 2:12 at Boston a couple of years back and he's getting back to that form now. He told me his plans before the race and that kind of affected my strategy more than it should have. I also decided to wear my heart rate monitor for the first time in a marathon. I thought it might be good to get some numbers to crunch afterwards.
We woke up in the morning to a pouring rain. Something I grew used to in Portland and Seattle where I first started running, although not what I wanted considering my cold. Peter and I were shuttled out to the race start by the race directors which was cool on one hand since we got to sleep in much longer than the rest of the participants, but on the other, it meant we only got to the start about 15 minutes before. Just enough time for the bathroom and changing clothes, no warm up.
When the race started Peter and I were quickly joined by "The Beast" James Nielsen, who is the course record holder at the Eugene Marathon and a former World Cross Country participant. We strolled through the first mile in 5:43, when Peter said, "Perfect" I thought I might be able to drop it down to 5:30's and get away from he and James. I kept and eye on my heart rate monitor making sure I didn't tip over 180 but the pick up in pace dropped Nielsen after a mile or so, meanwhile Peter was not running with me, but just a few seconds back. And that the way it went for several miles. My five mile split was 27:37 with av. heart rate of 170, The next five were 27:28 but the average went up to 177. I was still feeling good and ahead of Peter so I kept soldiering on. 15 miles showed a slight slow down as my split was 27:46 (5:33 pace) and 177 average. At this point Peter pulled even with me. I told him I was slowing a bit and I knew he was still planning to pick it up over the last 9 miles so he pretty much had the race in hand by then.
We ran together for miles 16 and 17 and then he put in a big surge. He dropped me easily and the rest of the race was spent by me holding on to the pace as well as I could and just trying to get to the finish. My 15-20 mile split was 28:08 and 176 average. My 20 mile time was 1:51:01. The next 5 were my slowest in 29:05 and my heart rate just stayed the same at 176. I guess as you get tired, it takes the same heart rate to maintain a slower pace. Or said another way, to keep an even pace, my heart rate would have to steadily climb over the course of the race.
My final time was 2:27:23 which is a 5:37 pace. Peter ended up running a 2:23 and James Neilsen finished at 2:31.
Overall, I was pretty happy about taking off over 4 minutes in the 5 weeks between the Calsbad race and this one. I also realized that the heart rate monitor can help me pace a bit better. I think I should try to kept it under or at 170 for the first half. It's kind of a nice tool to have for that reason. You don't have to worry about hills or wind and holding a certain pace, you can just rely on the monitor to make sure you're working at a level that you can maintain for the entire race.
anyway, I get a nice luxurious 9 week break between marathons now as I won't run one again until May 3rd. At least that's the plan. That doesn't mean I might not sneak in an "ultra" between now and then though.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Singles Anyone?
I've been trying something new in training. It's called, "Singles," and the idea is to get all of your running for the day in one run.
This might not seem like such a big deal to most folks. In fact, the wide majority of runners run only once a day, if that. When you look at the training schedules of many of the top runners though, you'll notice a change. For me this change took place when I was a freshman in high school. We had a new coach come to our school in the middle of the year between cross country and tack. Although our team was already pretty successful, he made some changes. The most significant of these was the addition of morning runs to our daily schedules. Every day coach met us at the school at 6 AM for a quick 3 or 4 miles in the morning. The idea was that it was an easy way to pad the running log with some extra miles and that it helped us to be loose and warmed up for the afternoon workout, which was the more important run of the day.
Since that time, as I grew to appreciate the finer points of studying the training schedules of the elites, I've found that the broad majority of top runners (maybe 90% or more) put in 2 runs on most days. The typical schedule in the US is for a runner to put in a shorter, less significant run in the morning, and a longer, more important run in the afternoon. When I started studying Kenyan schedules I was shocked to find that many put in 3 workouts per day. A wake up run at 6 AM, a hard run or intervals and 10 AM, and an easy jog at 4 PM. I guess when you're living at a full time running camp, there's not much else to do.
Anyway, back to singles. I've been finding in the last few years (yes, I'm getting older) that I haven't been recovering as well from day to day as I used to. I was still exhausted from the previous day's run in the morning, and I was still tired from my morning run in the afternoon. Because of the daily grind of running twice a day, I wasn't able to really feel fresh for my big workouts when I needed to. That's when I really started considering doing singles. The most well known running coach in history is probably Authur Lidyard, and he said that doing one run of 70 minutes was more beneficial than putting in two runs of 35 minutes. His athletes would put in one solid run every 24 hours, giving themselves more time to recover. I've since learned that such notables runners and programs such as Meb Keflezigi and the University of Colorado also follow this formula. The idea is to take my 5 mile morning run and my 9 mile afternoon run, and just make one run of say 13 miles. Yes, the one run will be harder, but I'll have 12 extra hours of recover, and I'll be gaining in endurance. The goal for Lidyard's athletes was to get 100 miles in for the week. In other words, an average of 14+ per run! I haven't hit that yet but I'm getting there. Last week was 86 miles in 6 runs. This week should be 92 miles in 7 runs. We'll see what the experiment proves. So far I've noticed that I get to sleep in a little longer, I'm more inclined to have time in the morning for my daily devotional, and I have more energy for my one run a day. Now we just need to give it some time to see if it all translates into some PR's this year.
This might not seem like such a big deal to most folks. In fact, the wide majority of runners run only once a day, if that. When you look at the training schedules of many of the top runners though, you'll notice a change. For me this change took place when I was a freshman in high school. We had a new coach come to our school in the middle of the year between cross country and tack. Although our team was already pretty successful, he made some changes. The most significant of these was the addition of morning runs to our daily schedules. Every day coach met us at the school at 6 AM for a quick 3 or 4 miles in the morning. The idea was that it was an easy way to pad the running log with some extra miles and that it helped us to be loose and warmed up for the afternoon workout, which was the more important run of the day.
Since that time, as I grew to appreciate the finer points of studying the training schedules of the elites, I've found that the broad majority of top runners (maybe 90% or more) put in 2 runs on most days. The typical schedule in the US is for a runner to put in a shorter, less significant run in the morning, and a longer, more important run in the afternoon. When I started studying Kenyan schedules I was shocked to find that many put in 3 workouts per day. A wake up run at 6 AM, a hard run or intervals and 10 AM, and an easy jog at 4 PM. I guess when you're living at a full time running camp, there's not much else to do.
Anyway, back to singles. I've been finding in the last few years (yes, I'm getting older) that I haven't been recovering as well from day to day as I used to. I was still exhausted from the previous day's run in the morning, and I was still tired from my morning run in the afternoon. Because of the daily grind of running twice a day, I wasn't able to really feel fresh for my big workouts when I needed to. That's when I really started considering doing singles. The most well known running coach in history is probably Authur Lidyard, and he said that doing one run of 70 minutes was more beneficial than putting in two runs of 35 minutes. His athletes would put in one solid run every 24 hours, giving themselves more time to recover. I've since learned that such notables runners and programs such as Meb Keflezigi and the University of Colorado also follow this formula. The idea is to take my 5 mile morning run and my 9 mile afternoon run, and just make one run of say 13 miles. Yes, the one run will be harder, but I'll have 12 extra hours of recover, and I'll be gaining in endurance. The goal for Lidyard's athletes was to get 100 miles in for the week. In other words, an average of 14+ per run! I haven't hit that yet but I'm getting there. Last week was 86 miles in 6 runs. This week should be 92 miles in 7 runs. We'll see what the experiment proves. So far I've noticed that I get to sleep in a little longer, I'm more inclined to have time in the morning for my daily devotional, and I have more energy for my one run a day. Now we just need to give it some time to see if it all translates into some PR's this year.
Friday, January 30, 2009
A Day Late and a Dollar Short--The Carlsbad Marathon
Well I entered the Carlsbad Marathon a couple of months after my foot surgery because I thought it would provide a good carrot for me to chase in my training. I knew that if I had a marathon to get through that I would have to be disciplined enough to put in the quality miles necessary. I also knew that timing the race so soon after surgery would necessitate a flawless preparation in order to achieve the level that I had run last year (2nd place in 2:23:45).
Needless to say, my preparation wasn't perfect. I was hampered by the usual colds, tight hamstrings, and dark cold days that are common in the winter. Going into the race I adjusted my goal to a top 3 finish and a sub 2:30 marathon.
Normally I wouldn't run in a marathon that I didn't feel ready for but in this instance the race had paid for my travel expenses so I felt obligated to give it a good try.
My roommate at the race hotel was Andrew Musuva, a 2:12 marathon runner from Kenya. I knew that he hadn't run anything too fast recently though, so I wasn't too concerned. It seems that every marathon with some prize money has some Kenyans that have broken 2:15 or so. It doesn't mean that they are in that good of shape all the time.
As the race began at an early start time of 6 AM it was still dark out. Quickly a lead pack of 4 formed. It was myself, Musuva, another Kenyan who had finished third last year in 2:27, and Josh Spiker who was a former all-American at the University of Wisconsin. The three of us quickly settled into a pace of 5:40-5:45 per mile. Pretty pedestrian compared to last year's splits, but right at 2:30 pace. I think the other runners in the group were looking to me to set the pace because I was the top returning runner from last year. Anyway, as we hit the five mile mark in 28:33 the others realized that I had no plans of running any faster so they all took off and started racing each other for the places. I just kept running in the hopes that one of them might falter later on, and that I could maintain a sub 2:30.
I passed through the half way point in 1:15:20 and thought I still had a chance based on how I was feeling. I didn't feel tired at all and knew I wouldn't slow down, I just couldn't seem to run any faster though.
As late as the 20 mile mark I hit in 1:54:55 and knew that if I could run the last 10K in 35 min. then I would reach my goal. Normally this would not be too big of a deal. Unfortunately the last 10K was a slight up hill and a slight headwind. I could only manage 5:50 pace instead of the 5:40 pace I needed. I ran my last 10K in a very disappointing 36:45 to finish the race in 2:31:40. No prize money for breaking 2:30. No prize money for finishing in the top 3.
Josh Spiker won in 2:24:56, Musuva was 2nd, and the other Kenyan was 3rd again in 2:27.
Oh well, at least I felt good the whole way and didn't really suffer too badly. In fact the next day I felt fine and ran my typical 5-mile recovery run 3 minutes faster than what I normally do the day after a marathon. At least now I know where I stand and what needs to be done to mover forward. I'm looking forward to writing some blogs about my new training emphasis this year, and seeing what results it will bring!
Needless to say, my preparation wasn't perfect. I was hampered by the usual colds, tight hamstrings, and dark cold days that are common in the winter. Going into the race I adjusted my goal to a top 3 finish and a sub 2:30 marathon.
Normally I wouldn't run in a marathon that I didn't feel ready for but in this instance the race had paid for my travel expenses so I felt obligated to give it a good try.
My roommate at the race hotel was Andrew Musuva, a 2:12 marathon runner from Kenya. I knew that he hadn't run anything too fast recently though, so I wasn't too concerned. It seems that every marathon with some prize money has some Kenyans that have broken 2:15 or so. It doesn't mean that they are in that good of shape all the time.
As the race began at an early start time of 6 AM it was still dark out. Quickly a lead pack of 4 formed. It was myself, Musuva, another Kenyan who had finished third last year in 2:27, and Josh Spiker who was a former all-American at the University of Wisconsin. The three of us quickly settled into a pace of 5:40-5:45 per mile. Pretty pedestrian compared to last year's splits, but right at 2:30 pace. I think the other runners in the group were looking to me to set the pace because I was the top returning runner from last year. Anyway, as we hit the five mile mark in 28:33 the others realized that I had no plans of running any faster so they all took off and started racing each other for the places. I just kept running in the hopes that one of them might falter later on, and that I could maintain a sub 2:30.
I passed through the half way point in 1:15:20 and thought I still had a chance based on how I was feeling. I didn't feel tired at all and knew I wouldn't slow down, I just couldn't seem to run any faster though.
As late as the 20 mile mark I hit in 1:54:55 and knew that if I could run the last 10K in 35 min. then I would reach my goal. Normally this would not be too big of a deal. Unfortunately the last 10K was a slight up hill and a slight headwind. I could only manage 5:50 pace instead of the 5:40 pace I needed. I ran my last 10K in a very disappointing 36:45 to finish the race in 2:31:40. No prize money for breaking 2:30. No prize money for finishing in the top 3.
Josh Spiker won in 2:24:56, Musuva was 2nd, and the other Kenyan was 3rd again in 2:27.
Oh well, at least I felt good the whole way and didn't really suffer too badly. In fact the next day I felt fine and ran my typical 5-mile recovery run 3 minutes faster than what I normally do the day after a marathon. At least now I know where I stand and what needs to be done to mover forward. I'm looking forward to writing some blogs about my new training emphasis this year, and seeing what results it will bring!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Back in the Saddle
It's great to be back running and racing again. Today marked my return to the streets of Bend after what can only be described as a disasterous showing at the 2008 Turkey Trot. I knew going into the race that I might be the favorite since Bend's real heavy hitters, particularly, Jeff Caba who vanquished me at the previously mentioned event, would be out of town and unable to compete.
As the freezing runners waited for the start, I noticed that Michael Dennis, a friend of Cabas and fellow PA was nudging closer and closer to me. Michael is normally a friendly fellow so I thought nothing of it at the time. As the race began, I quickly realized that news of my physical tactics must have gotten out around town, and today would be payback. You see, in the Turkey Trot, I had employed some less-than-fair sportmanship directed towards Mr. Caba. Unknowingly, I also clotheslined an innocent Sean Meissner in the midst of dishing out these shananigans. In a small town like Bend, word travels fast. Micael Dennis was clearly on a mission to try to exact some revenge. As I spurted off the line he quickly chased me down and grabbed on, trying to wrestle me to the ground. I was able to fight him off once, but he grabbed me again. finally, the second time I broke free, I bolted quickly to a 10 meter lead in order to run clear of his interference.
At that point, with the race decided, I was able to coast in to the finish of the 3 miler in 15:38. A disappointed Dennis settled for second slightly over a minute back. I heard him mumble as he crossed the line, "I'll get you next time Martin!" Anyway, next time should be interesting indeed as Dennis will be joined perhaps by Mr. Caba in a 2 on 1 tag team event. Oh, and there is another fast guy in town that might show up as well. He ran 10 miles farther than I did this morning at a pace that was 20 seconds per mile faster, ouch!
As the freezing runners waited for the start, I noticed that Michael Dennis, a friend of Cabas and fellow PA was nudging closer and closer to me. Michael is normally a friendly fellow so I thought nothing of it at the time. As the race began, I quickly realized that news of my physical tactics must have gotten out around town, and today would be payback. You see, in the Turkey Trot, I had employed some less-than-fair sportmanship directed towards Mr. Caba. Unknowingly, I also clotheslined an innocent Sean Meissner in the midst of dishing out these shananigans. In a small town like Bend, word travels fast. Micael Dennis was clearly on a mission to try to exact some revenge. As I spurted off the line he quickly chased me down and grabbed on, trying to wrestle me to the ground. I was able to fight him off once, but he grabbed me again. finally, the second time I broke free, I bolted quickly to a 10 meter lead in order to run clear of his interference.
At that point, with the race decided, I was able to coast in to the finish of the 3 miler in 15:38. A disappointed Dennis settled for second slightly over a minute back. I heard him mumble as he crossed the line, "I'll get you next time Martin!" Anyway, next time should be interesting indeed as Dennis will be joined perhaps by Mr. Caba in a 2 on 1 tag team event. Oh, and there is another fast guy in town that might show up as well. He ran 10 miles farther than I did this morning at a pace that was 20 seconds per mile faster, ouch!
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