Wednesday, May 06, 2009

May

May is off to a pretty good start. Inspired by Molly's impromptu 10 miler last Saturday w/ the Westside Runner's, on Sunday I went for a 10 miler of my own. I did the same 10 miler I did last fall when training for the Denver half, up to Rocky Mountain Lake, down Tennyson to Sloan's, around Sloan's and up Stuart to 35th, then over to Zuni and back to 40th.

This time I ran by myself. It was a perfect day - I started just after 8:30, and there was some cloud cover. I started out at a nice slow pace (which turned out to be 10:00/mile) and took a 1 minute walk break after 20 minutes. I took another 1 minute walk break when I got to Sloan's lake (46 minutes) and ate a gel. Whatever flavor it was (I can't remember) was pretty awful. I set into a nice deliberate pace around Sloan's - it was nice to be running on flat terrain) and did the 2.6+ mile loop in just over 25:00 minutes. I ran up Stuart to 35th and Perry, took a 1 minute walk break, had another gel (lemon lime - much, much better) and then headed for home. My goal was to break 1:45, and I was already at about 1:26. I was actually feeling pretty good and did the last 1.7 miles in just over 15 minutes (close to 9:00 min pace) and finished in 1:41+.

This was actually probably the best I've ever felt after a long run. The only issue was a huge blood blister on the inside of my right heel. Luckily I know someone with a large needle, and she drained it (this time I didn't squeal like a little girl - no offense Audrey).

This morning I woke up early and went out to Lookout Mountain. I was out here two weeks ago, but could only do the first 2/3 of the trail because of snow/ice. This time the trail was clear. My splits were 13:00 at the first road, 25:10 at the first bridge, 33:30 at the Windy Saddle parking lot, and 51:30 at the top. Rested for about 2 minutes at the top - there was a herd of deer there just meandering around. Had a gel, then started down. Passed several mountain bikers coming up, and made it back to windy saddle in 11:00. Hit the bridge in another 6:00, then something funny happened w/ my back and it kinda seized up, slowing me to a jog. Kinda took it easy the rest of the way, hitting the road in 25:00, and finishing in just under 35:00 for a total round trip of 1:26:30.

I probably could have finished in sub 1:25 w/o the back issues, but that's neither here nor there.

I'm encouraged by my progress - last year I was able to run the whole uphill, but had to take breaks at both roads and finished in 58 minutes. 3 years ago I did it in just under 52:00, but power hiked almost all of it.

2009 Cherry Creek Sneak

On Sunday April 26th I ran the Cherry Creek Sneak 5 mile race w/ Doug and Arwen. It was the first time I had ever run the race - the weather was beautiful, it was fun to do a big race, the distance was one I had never raced before (guaranteed PR!) and it was a good early season test.

My thought going into this was that sub 44:00 (8:45 /mile) was doable, and I'd be very satisfied with that. sub 46:00 (9:10 / mile) would be OK, and I'd be dissappointed with anything over that. We got to the race about an hour early, walked around for a bit, ran into Jonny (wearing a kilt of course) who was working the clif bar booth - and the crowd in general. Doug and I did a 1/2 mile warmup, and then positioned ourselves in the 8:00 - 9:00 minute pace area. Arwen started with us but this was the farthest he had ever run, so he was going to go out easy.

It was pretty crowded for about the first 200 - 300 yards, but then loosened up pretty well. We cruised along at a very manageable pace the first mile, and I was really, really hoping to do slightly under 9:00 for the first mile. We hit it in 9:11 - bummer...In retrospect we were probably running about 8:45 - 8:50 pace, but because of the start it our time was a little slower. I got a little anxious and started to pick up the pace, and even with a slow down at the aid station just before mile 2 we did the 2nd mile in 8:23 - so we were probably running at about 8:10 pace. This turned out to be a mistake, and mile 3 (8:54) and mile 4 (9:00 w/ 30 second walk break at the aid station) were tough. Sub 44:00 would be really tough, as I'd have to do a sub 8:30 final mile. But I felt better after the walk break, and was feeling pretty bad but still moving along OK. As I looked around I noticed two things - people weren't passing me like at the Denver Half Marathon, and most of the people running around me looked like they were in decent shape. In previous races I've been passed by little kids, old men who looked like they were limping, people who looked like they could stand to drop 30 pounds - but this time I felt pretty good at the end.

The final mile winds through Cherry Creek North - going from 1st ave to 3rd, then does a funky U-turn (unexpected) back on 2nd ave before finishing back on 1st. I crossed the line in 44:14...just missing sub-44:00 but still pretty happy with how it ended up.

I paid the price on the 2nd mile. I think I would have been better off maintaining a nice 8:45 pace for miles 2 and 3, then trying to move it up to 8:35 or 8:30 for the last 2 miles.

After the race we waited for Arwen and he showed up pretty quickly. He was totally psyched - his comment was "Man - I had never run more than 3 miles before, but after 3 miles I was feeling great! I felt like I could run forever!" It was very cool to see such enthusiasm.

Splits:
mile 1: 9:11
mile 2: 8:23
mile 3: 8:54
mile 4: 9:00
mile 5: 8:46

This place me 128/232 in my age group - which means I finished slower than 55% of the guys in my age group. In the Denver Half Marathon I finished slower than 65% - so that's a good sign.

Next race: Rocky Mountain Half Marathon (for those keeping track it's not run w/ the all women's 8K this year)