Illinois Marathon

I choose the Illinois Marathon for my spring 2014 race.  I did the I-Challange which is a 5K on Friday night, Full Marathon on Saturday AM.

Miles 1-6: Pacing was good, right around 7:40 which was my goal. HR was in check, below 160 and things felt great.

Miles 6-11 - Looking back over my data my HR jumped on a small hill at about 6.5 to the mid 160s, and never recovered.  Still not a danger zone, but much closer to bad news.  I still felt pretty good for this portion of the race, though there was a 2 mile section through a park that I did not enjoy very much.  My nutrition and fluid intake was good, but I did notice that the sun and quickly warming temps were starting to drain me a bit.

At mile 11.5 another small hill, and another small jump in HR that did not recover.  I was now upper 160's which would become lower 170s just after the half.  I had not checked my HR at this point in the race, maybe if I had I would have backed off a bit.

HM: 1:39:54, 7:37 average pace at this point, right where my race band wanted me to be for a 3:20.  Looking back, perhaps I should have started a bit slower, closer to 7:40 for the first half.  I began to feel the race at this point.

Miles 13-17: Probably the worst part of the race.  I did not realize where my HR was, but I really began to struggle.  Just past the 15 mile marker, I bonked, decided to try to walk for 30 seconds.  When I checked my HR I realized what had happened.  I ran/walked the next couple miles, but was unable to get myself back to a comfortable running zone.  The wall had come and kicked my ass!  Just past 17 the 3:25 pace group (my BQ) went by me and when I was unable to pick it back up and run with them, my race was over.

Miles 18-22 - After pouting for a bit, I grabbed an ice cold beer from a guy supporting the race in his front yard, enjoyed the libation, and figured I would just run/walk my way to the finish and just try to keep it under 4:00.  I was enjoying myself.  Found fellow "bonker" and we chatted our way between water stations, ran when we could, walked when we had to and talked about what we would eat to replace all the calories we were burning.

Mile 22-Finish:  The Illinois Marathon has first time marathon participants wear a "my first marathon" bib on their backs.  About mile 22 there was a young woman walking with her head drooping and looking dejected.  I tapped her on her back as I ran by and said, "let's get this done!"  She took out her ear buds, and started running with me.  She told me she just wanted to finish under four hours, but was really struggling.  I knew we had a sub-4 if we just kept a steady run/walk pace for the last 4 miles.  There is a hill at mile 24 and when we crested it we looked at eachother, and I said, let's run this thing in.  It was wonderful to see her excitement  as we crossed at 3:52.

Top 24% overall and top 28% in 45-50 Age Group is not so shabby for a "bad" race!. I think it was the clear and sunny skies and warmer temperatures were much warmer than what I trained in and caused me to bonk.  Even without hitting my goal time, I had a great marathon and running weekend. I was able to re-connect with a college friend, run a really fun 5K with a friend and neighbor, with a fun under the lights finish at the 50 yard line of Memorial Stadium. I also got to run with my Ragnar teammate from last year, for the first 7 miles of the marathon (her half marathon) where we paced it perfectly.  The tears running down her cheeks and a big hug for me at the finish made my missing out on a BQ much easier to stomach. I am disappointed I did not hit my Boston Qualifying time, but realize how blessed I am to get the opportunity to run with such great people, finished the race healthy, and will get a chance to hit that BQ in my next marathon!

River Roots & Ruts Trail Half Marathon

This was my first Trail race, and it was much more challenging than I expected!  I figured when I signed up for a Trail HM in Florida it would at least be flat, I was wrong, LOL.   I ran the Half Marathon with my 16yo  Brannan and my 13yo Mary Kate and 11yo Dylan ran the 5K. 

Miles 1-3, 7:40 average pace: The start of the race is on a groomed bike/hiking trail that winds to the North edge of the Caloosahatchee River.   I was running this with my 16yo son, and we settled into a nice pace, slowly passing the rabbits that had started out too fast.  I was planning for 7:45 average, so we were right on our goal.  passed through a beautiful section that looked like a scene out of Jurassic Park, Brannnan actually said, when do the dinosaurs come out of the jungle.  I was starting to think we could pick up our pace a bit as this was, so far, pretty easy.

Miles 4-7, 7:56 Average:  About mile 4 things began to get interesting.  We crossed the road to the northern section of the park, and entered a motocross track.  It was oddly fun to run on with the bumps, banked turns, and whoops sections.  It was also the first time I began to realize that the rain the night before was going to make the footing an issue.  The mud was very thick and "sticky as snot" as the race director so perfectly described it.  It was really cool to be in an open field, following the track.  After a mile of this, we got back on the track, and the hills started.  They were not big hills, but steep and treacherous with the mud.  Had to brace myself more than once on a tree at the end of a downhill to stop from tumbling into the adjacent swamp.  Our pace was dropping, but the effort was there so I was not too worried.  At the aid station at mile 7, my son said his hip was bothering him (he has been fighting off IT Band issues) and he made the smart decision to drop (though he ended up running about 10 miles just to get back to the car).  

Miles 8-11, 9:50 Average (though it was probably a bit faster).  I call this the Holy S#%t section!  The Northeastern section of the park is all single track, very muddy, covered by a canopy that I had to duck under much of the time, and loaded with 15-20 foot steep up and down "hils" that required speed, agility, and some luck to get up, as well as constant switchback turns. (Check out the map).  My Garmin recorded the final distance as 12.6, but the Race Director and some other runners who have run this before assured me it's a 13.1 length route, but this section cuts back on itself so often, the GPS watches can't give you a very accurate reading at race pace.  The mud also slowed me down substantially in this section.  With the lower pace, my HR also dropped.  Now I know why the front of the pack took off so fast.  If I were to do this race again, I would push the pace much harder the first 7 miles, as the trail dictates a much slower pace in this section technically, climbing/descending and the mud.  The best part of this section was picking off about 10 runners.  It seemed that they were all struggling, and it was fun to move past them and keep right on pulling away.

Miles  12-Finish, 7:55 Average: I emerged from the Holy S#%t section, and it felt good to have nice level ground where I could at least choose to run on the grassy edge of the trail rather than in the muddy track.  I saw a runner about 200 yards in front of me and decided, it's go time.  I picked up the pace and was steadily closing on him.  As I got close, with the river on my right shoulder, I began to worry I used up too much if he had a surge left.  I passed him with about 1/4 mile to go, and when he said, "Good Job," I knew I was home free.  He quickly dropped back from me as I maintained my pace, turned the corner and jumped over the finish line!

Results: 1:47:34, 27 overall 7/21 Age Division, 8:13 average pace  (some fast old men in this race!). http://connect.garmin.com/activity/427120292

Really fun, happy with my time, and look forward to more trail running in the near future!

Cool 5K/10K 2013

For the first time since I started running, I actually won a race.  Not just an age group, but I was the first to finish the 10K race!  I ran this race last year with some friends and my 16yo son Brannan and did well. I ran 44:07 and won my age group.  My goal going into the race was 42:XX.  The plan was to run around 7:00 for the first mile, then begin to negativve split. I was really focused on running a controlled race so I would have some left at the end. My race experience has shown that I tend to go out hard, and then just hold on at the finish.

Start: This is a 5K/10K small local race. Timing is done with the ankle straps used in triathlons.  They start the 10K first, then about 30 seconds later send off the 5K run/walkers.  I got to the front, and was out to a lead right off the bat. I settled into a comfortable pace.  One change I had made was to set my Garmin
screen to show Average Pace, Distance and Time only.  I tend to over focus on HR data when I race, and made a conscious decision to ignore it for this race

First 5K, 21:31 - I was all alone by the 1/2 mile mark, but by 3/4 the fast 5K runners (a 13-15yo kid came by me, followed closely by a 20 something kid.  I resisted the urge to pace with them and kept on my plan.  Mile 1 7:06 right on plan.  I picked up the pace a bit and continued to run alone.  Mile 2 6:54, Mile 3 6:53.  Hit 5K mark 21:30ish, right on plan, and was feeling good.

Second 5K, 20:56 - Mile 4 continued to feel pretty good, hard pace, but manageable.  I began remember that most of this mile was down hill, and knew I was going to pay for it on the turn around.  The course is sort of an out and back.  The 5K is a loop, the 10K we share the first part, then do an out and back to add the distance, then hook back up with the 5K course to finish.  Mile 4, 6:55.  Mile 5 was the point in the race where it began to hurt.  Every race has it's own "wall" and this was it.  It is the slight uphill back to the finishing part of the 5K course.  I began to pass the other 10K runners heading out the the turn around, and realized the closest runner was way back, I was on my own to get my goal pace.  This was the mental part of the race.  I could ease up and still win the race going away, or I could suck it up and finish hard.  Mile 6 I decided it was go time.  It was kind of fun to be passing 5K walkers/joggers.  Mile 6, 6:44, Final .2 (.15 according to my Garmin, I hit those tangents perfectly) 6:21 pace.  Finished 42:28, First Overall for the 10K.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/410496743

Really happy with how I ran this race.  It would have been nice to have someone to "race," but looking back I'm even more proud that I hit my goal pace all on my own.

Trying a New Plan for River, Roots and Ruts Trail Run Half Marathon

I'll be visiting Fort Myers Florida the first of the year, and registered for the River, Roots & Ruts Trail Run Half Marathon.  For all my races to date I've used the Runner's World Smart Coach to design my training plans.  While I've been happy with their plans, figured this would be a good chance to try out a new feature on Endomondo, a sports and activity data tracking program I've been using since I started running.


I entered all the data it asked for, using my HM PR from this spring of 1:33,  and it came up with a plan for predicting a 1:30 finish, with the easy/long run pace at 8:22.  Today's workout called for a time trial so it could adjust the plan for my current fitness level.

Garmin Data for the Endomondo 1.86 Mile Time Trial

I ended up running a 6:40 Avg Pace for 1.86 miles of the time trial (20:40 5K pace).  I was a bit disappointed with this pace, but I'm still nursing a sore foot/ankle left over from the Chicago Marathon a couple weeks ago.  

After the time trial Endomondo plan adjusted the paces of the workouts and now predicts a 1:40 HM with easy paces at 8:58.  This seems like a pretty big drop in pace and predicted finish to me.  The McMillan pace calculator predicts  a 1:35 for the same 5K pace, guess we will see how it goes!  Maybe I'll re-do the time trial in a couple weeks and see if it adjusts the paces and predicted finish and paces again.

Chicago Marathon, A Tale of Two Halves!

Weather at the start could not have been better.  Corral B is a great starting point, only took me to about 1.5 minutes to get to the start line and while crowded, everyone in this corral was where they should have been.  I got near the 3:20 pacer, found a few people to chat with, and off we went.

First 10K: 46:51 (7:25 average pace, HR 158-160)  I felt great for this entire portion.  I noticed that the 3:20 pacers were closer to a 3:16 finish pace at this point, but also figured I would need some extra because it’s such a wide course I would probably run an extra .25 miles, which I did.  Mistake #1 not backing off to my planned pace and let the pacer group go, but I was feeding off the excitement and spectators and other runners and just felt so darn good.  Nutrition right on target.  Shot Bloks @ mile 3, salt tab @ mile 6.

10K-HM: 1:40:04 – (7:35 pace for this section) Average pace had dropped to 7:30, but I had made a conscious decision to back off to the HM point as I had gone out too fast.  Nutrition was still on target, Clif Gel @ 8,  Salt Tab @ 10, Shot Bloks @ HM.  As we turned west heading out of the loop, I had the first feelings that I may be in trouble.  Legs were feeling more fatigued then they should have at this point.

HM-30K: 2:23:39 (Avg pace for this section 7:43, but steadily slower each mile) Average pace dropped to 7:35, and the HR was moving to lower 160s, bad combination to be going slower with a higher HR!).  I began to realize my 3:20 goal was probably out of the picture which was psychologically difficult to handle.  I still had my 3:25 BQ in sight, but my legs were very heavy, and there was the early signs of cramping in my right arch and both calfs.  Nutrition was fine, took a Gel @ 16.  Looking back I think I discovered mistake number 2.  For some reason I convinced myself that I was going to use Gatorade at every aide station and skip the Salt Tabs for the rest of the race, it seemed to make sense to me at the time.   Note to self, next time stick with the plan you made when you have not been running for two hours, not the one you make up on the fly!  I’m thinking this may have contributed to the later cramping.

30K-Finish – 3:31:42 (Avg pace for this section 9:19  HR 163-5 until the cramps kicked in, then it dropped) My legs continued to be very heavy, but I was able to keep around a pace in the lower 8:00s.  Got a nice boost from a large group from the Grayslake Running Club friends at the mile 19 marker which was awesome!  I was mentally struggling seeing all these splits in the 8:00s, but my legs would just not go.  Just after the mile 22 marker, my left calf fully cramped, ouch! I slowed the pace, and walked the aid station, had a couple Gatorades and picked it back up.  By now I knew even my BQ was out the window so I figured I should make sure to soak in the atmosphere and try to enjoy the rest of the run. I made sure to high five as many kids as I could, and thank everyone along the way.  Miles 24-25 were awful.  Full cramps in left both calfs, and my right foot.  Became a crawl for these two miles (10:31 - 10:03): run, cramp, stretch, walk, and repeat.  At the 25 mile mark I decided come hell or high water I was going to run the rest of this darn race.  I was able to go 8:51 for mile 26, and 8:20 pace for the final “kick.”  I took Shot Bloks @ 20, but skipped the last planned gel @ 24 (too busy just trying to stay upright!).  The finish of Chicago is awesome, little hill during the last 400m, then a turn and the line is in sight, lots of spectators, loud, very exciting.  I hope there is video of my finish as I tried Leap across the finish line, and as I jumped both calfs and my right Hamstring fully cramped and I almost face planted, I literally laughed out loud at my stupidity as I was trying to maintain my balance. 

Summary:  Chicago is a great venue for a Marathon, though I’m not sure I’ll do it again next year (too many other marathons I want to do).  I need to stick with my plan and not get caught up in the excitement of the race both on pace and nutrition.  My HR data tells me that my fitness level was more than adequate (158 Avg HR), so I think it was more of a failure to manage electrolytes and early pacing.  From a training standpoint I think I will do more marathon pace tempos during the last 5-6 miles of my Long runs to train my body to push through that heavy leg point. Lesson Learned (Probably not, more like lesson taught, LOL).  Overall a great experience even without meeting my goal time! 

My streak of running at least 1 mile everyday hit 190 days (just over 6 months). In that time I've covered 1276 miles (An average of 6.75/day) I could have run from Grayslake Illinois to San Antonio Texas in just over a week (7.5 days running). I've burned 172817 calories just from running (even more if I included the swimming, biking and lifting) which would be about 115 Red Robin Burgers & Fries!

Fort2Base Race Report:

My training plan called for 16 miles on Sunday, so I planned on running 3 miles to warm up before the 11.5 mile race. Warm up was perfect, 9:20, Zone 1 HR, felt great as I got to the starting line. I was looking at this as more of a Tempo run than a race, and my plan was to pace a friend from the running club said he wanted to run a 7:45/mile pace. I made a big mistake at the bag drop. I left my GU/Salt Tabs in my bag, so the plan for practicing my marathon nutrition was screwed up. I knew I would be fine to run this distance, but I missed out on a great opportunity to practice my aid station/nutrition plan.

Miles 1-2: We went out a little fast for the friend I was going to pace, @7:27, and he paid for it in mile 2 where we dropped to a 7:56. Turns out I'm a terrible pacer, and when he said go ahead and run, I did.

Miles 3-6 (7:34, 7:24, 7:25, 7:31): The course is on a very flat paved bike bath that runs from Fort Sheridan to the Great Lakes Naval Base, perfect chance for a Tempo run. There was a woman whom had just gone by us, so I caught up with her, and her pace was right around 7:30, so I settled in with her and we chatted for a bit. I adjusted my plan, and decided to make this more of a HR run. The plan was to keep my HR @ or just under 160 (mid Zone 3 for me). This went really well and felt great the entire time.

Miles 7-9 (7:34, 7:34, 7:30) Still feeling pretty good, though the humidity was starting to get to me. I let the HR climb to 162-63. We enter the base right around mile 8, and the 7:30 pacer group caught me right about that time. I ran with them until we hit "Hero's" hill.

Miles 10-11.5 (7:20, 8:13, 4;24 (for the last .55)) This is the part of the race that makes this a challenge. We run down a steep hill to the shore of Lake Michigan, but when you run down hill...you got to run up. (check out the elevation profile at the end of the race http://connect.garmin.com/player/365519772 ) I struggled to recover my pace after the hill, but as able to finish pretty hard for the turn to the finish line. My Dad and Son were near the finish (my 11yo did the 3 Nautical mile run) and it was fun to see them.



Result: 1:27:23, 7:36 Average Pace, 158 avg HR (PR by 3 minutes from last year, where I actually raced it much harder), 90/825 overall, 13/60 Age Group. http://results.active.com/events/fort2base--3/10-n...mile-searchable/patrick-morris This was a very successful Tempo race for me, though I did skip the 1.5 mile cool down run I had planned and instead went to breakfast with My Mom, Dad and two of my kids! Great run and a fun race I will try to keep on my racing schedule!

Chicago Marathon Training adjustments from the race: I think keeping my HR 156-160 (which translated to 7:30ish yesterday) will work out quite well for Chicago. It was interesting to note the difference allowing it to creep up a bit to 162-3 at the end made in how I was feeling. Pretty comfortable at 158, much more of an effort @ 162-3 and then into the 165+ range after the hill. Without my built in pacer in Chicago, I'm going to really have to concentrate on keeping that HR where I want it, regardless of pace, and I was able to do that pretty successfully yesterday.