faster with age

Didn't get a chance to run.

     Got in a 15 mile run today at the Pennsylvania farm. I ran the same hilly loop. I started at an 8:30 pace and increased to about 8 min pace over the first seven. I averaged 7:49 pace for the next 8 miles. 8:04 pace overall for 15 miles.

     Went for a 3 mile bike ride at the farm before leaving for Milford Pa where my wife's parents live. Later I got in a 6 mile run through the town of Milford.

     We went to the beach in New Jersey. Later we headed down to Philadelphia where we spent the night. We wanted to go to the Phillies game that night but the tickets sold out several days in advance. My step daughter and her husband paid 50 bucks for some scalped tickets [$40 seats] and went anyway. Never got time for a run but I felt beat anyway from spending a lot of time in the ocean. 

     I ran  6 miles on the treadmill at the hotel in Philadelphia in the morning. Started out with a 9:10 mile and sped up each mile. Last 2 miles were 7:12 and 6:33. Overall ave pace was 7:52. We spent the rest of the day visiting some tourist attractions including doing the "Rocky Balboa run" up the steps of the museum then caught our plane for home that evening.

     Back home this morning I ran 10 miles at 8:14 ave.

     PM   4 miles at 8:56 pace.

     I rode 30 miles on my road bike this morning. I'm planning to do a biathlon a week from tomorrow and figure I had better try to get in a couple of good rides since I haven't been on the bike much the past 3 weeks.

      I ran 20 miles this morning for the first time since last October. First thing this morning it was 45 deg and raining hard. I waited a couple of hours and the rain got very light and the temp up to 52 deg. Perfect for a long run. I wasn't able to run the dirt roads that I usually take because of mud so I ran down the highway. There are two big mile long hills that climb about 300 feet that I had to run both on the way out and back. I ran the first 8 miles at 7:58 ave pace. Then the next 12 at 7:42 ave pace. Overall ave pace for 20 was 7:48.

     I was surprised that I didn't feel any lingering effects from Sat tough run when I went out this morning. Even though I felt like going faster and farther I wanted this to be a recovery effort and  I forced myself to keep the pace slow . I ran 8 miles at 8:38 ave pace.

     PM   Ran a very easy 4 miles at  10 PM. It was very dark until the moon came up on the last mile. 8:51 pace

     Went out on the road bike this morning for 26 miles. Hammered pretty good for about 12 miles of it.

     PM   Went for an easy relaxed 7 mile run. Got out a little earlier while it was still light but the temp was still 84 deg. A nice breeze kept it from getting too bad. 8:45 pace.

     AM   Ran 10 miles. The first 4 miles at 8:16 ave pace. Then 6 miles at 7:39 ave pace. On the last 4 miles I ran the first 1/4 of each mile at around 6:05 pace since I haven't run hardly anything under about 7:30 pace since the Des News 10k almost 3 weeks ago and I have a 5 mile race as part of a biathlon this weekend and just wanted to get the legs moving. It felt hard. Overall pace for 10 miles 7:54.

     7 very easy miles this morning. 9:03 pace.

     PM   15 mile mountain bike.

     Morning 6 slow miles. 8:28 pace.

     PM 6 miles on the road bike in a 30 MPH wind.

     When I got up this morning to leave for the race it had been raining during the night but had stopped and was perfectly calm and around 50 deg. Perfect race conditions. As I made the 45 min. drive to the other end of the valley I got into a lot of heavy wind. Not so good especially on the bike. When I arrived there were also a few raindrops starting to fall.  About 20 min. before the race was supposed to start it started raining hard. I didn't see one person out warming up and I didn't either. I just couldn't get excited about going out in that downpour. The race director was trying to give us some last minute instructions with everyone huddled under the pavilion but everything he said was completely drowned out by the roar of rain hitting the roof. When it was time to start it wasn't fun to take off my sweatshirt and head out into the cold and rain in shorts and short sleeves. We took off in the rain and I was completely soaked and cold right off the bat. There seemed to be a lot of standing water right off that soaked my shoes and socks. My hands were freezing and I realized I hadn't put any gloves out in my transition stuff for the bike ride. That first mile I really didn't feel like running at all but after about 1.5 I started to warm up and felt better. I tried to keep the effort hard but not too hard so I would have something left for the bike which is actually where the most time is gained or lost. The race is a loop course that you run twice so the direction you are running changed several times so headwind verses tailwind or crosswind changed several times which kept my splits a bit uneven. Splits for the first 4 miles went 6:22,6:18,6:24,6:28. The last mile I had mostly tailwind. I usually don't kick at the end of the run in a biathlon and when I turned the corner into the parking lot I could see the clock was still at 30 something so I took off a bit faster to break 31 min. I got to the clock at 30:57 or 58 but the timing mat and barriers had been changed around since the start and I had run around the wrong side and had to go back around to cross the mat. It got me at 31:02 but I'm saying I was under 31min. The last mile was short. I had it at .92 miles on my garmin at 5:30 [5:58 pace]. Overall pace for 5 miles was 6:17. I was about 58 seconds in transition if I add in the 4 seconds I lost getting across the mat. I had to decide in transition whether to put on the jacket I had left there but was feeling warm now even though it was still raining. I didn't want the extra wind drag so I went without it. The bike part started out with a tailwind and not too far into it the rain stopped. The bike part goes 16.5 miles on an out and back course. With about 2 miles to go before the turn around the tailwind got harder and I was really flying. Unfortunetly I soon had to turn back into a much stronger headwind.The whole way back I felt like I was just crawling. I normally get passed a lot on the bike but until the last mile and a half I had passed 3 people and had not been passed myself. At that point I had a guy about half my age with twice my bike go by me. After he got about 5 or 6 bike lengths on me [you are not allowed to draft] I could see he had used a lot getting past me and I was able to keep him from getting away any farther. When we got closer to the finish I started coming up on the side of him. He kept looking back and trying to hold me off but I continued to gain on him. I was right even with his back wheel as we were closing in on the finish and still slowly gaining. The race officials do not want you racing this last bit across the line as it is an open course and finishes in a bit of a crowded area. they want you to take care of it out on the course and then cruise in the last bit. I decided I had waited a little too long and backed off and cruised in but I think I could have gotten him and he said afterward that he thought I had him.

     I beat last years run time by almost a half a minute but my overall time was 1:30 slower. I really wanted to break 1:20:00 and figured when I finished the run faster than last year I had it but that wind really kicked my butt. It must have slowed everyone else a lot too. I finished 7th overall. Up from 17th last year. I was only 3rd in my age group which includes 40 to 49. I have two of the better racers in my group with Keith Anderson and Mark wallace. Even though my time was slower than last years I'm sure I had a better race. After it was over I headed to Southern Utah for 5 days of bowhunting.

      Bow hunting in southern Utah this morning I did about 2 1/2 hours of hiking. I went for a 12 mile run in the heat of the day starting from camp at 8550 feet elevation and running 6 miles down the dirt road to around 7500 feet then back up. 7:33 easy pace going down and 8:37 pace for the 6 miles back up which was a harder effort. 8:07 overall ave pace for 12.

     More hiking that evening.

      Another 2 1/2 to 3 hours of hiking this morning covering a lot of ground. I went for the same run in the afternoon but turned around at 4 miles this time for 8 miles total. The first 4 miles dropped about 700 feet and I ran a 7:31 pace. The next 4 back up I ran at 8:43 pace.

      Not much hiking this evening mostly sitting.

     I went out this morning and did my West Canyon run. My wife dropped me off up the canyon and then parked the car at the bottom while she walked up. I ran a 1 mile hilly warm up in 8:02 and then started a 3 mile tempo down the canyon averaging 6:19 pace. After a 5 min. break I ran back up the 3 miles at a similar effort at 7:24 pace. After another 5 minute break I headed back down. It had been perfectly calm all morning but now I had a strong headwind which slowed me quite a bit. After about a mile I really started to bonk and it was tough to maintain a decent pace at all. I finished that 3 miles at 6:43 pace. I'm not quite sure why I ran out of steam. I did feel good on the first 2 intervals. This might be a bad sign for the half next week. Hopefully it just had something to do with all the extra hiking I did this week or the biathlon 5 days earlier.

     6 recovery miles at 8:38 pace.

     I ran a 20 miler this morning. The legs felt a bit heavy in the beginning and I wasn't sure how it would go so I just tried to run a pace that felt good. Started out around 8:30 pace and after 7 miles my overall pace was 8:17. I actually started feeling a bit better at this point and my pace picked up without thinking about it. I averaged 7:42 pace for the last 13 miles. Overall pace for 20 was 7:54.

     Ran 9 miles this morning at a relaxed 8:33 pace.

     My back was a little sore yesterday during my run. Then it became more sore throughout the day. The day before I stepped in a hole unexpectedly and twisted awkwardly trying to catch my balance. My back hurt when it happened but felt better soon afterward but it seems like I have had my back flare up before after this type of thing. I skipped my PM run yesterday and doubt I will run today. I did go for a 20 mile mt bike ride this morning. My back felt about the same afterward. I hope it gets feeling better quickly with TOU half coming in 4 days.

     This morning my back felt better than yesterday morning but when I tried running a little ways it was giving me enough pain I decided the benefits of a short run didn't outweigh the risk of making it worse or even delaying the healing with the TOU half coming up in 3 days. I got on the mountain bike again and felt like I had a lot of energy. I went 31 miles pushing the pace somewhat hard for a lot of the ride. The riding caused a little less soreness than yesterday but both days it felt no worse after finishing. It's very unlikely that I'll do any running again today

     My back felt a lot better this morning so I decided to try a short run. The pain wasn't bad but just enough that I didn't want to risk making it worse so I only ran 2.3 miles and I will see how it does throughout the day. I may try another short run later if all goes well.

     My back felt much better this morning so I decided to test it before the race tomorrow. I ran 6 miles fairly easy and took a short break after 2 and 4 miles. The last 2 miles I did some fartlek running 4x1/4 miles at 6:20-6:25 pace. My back felt pretty good. I felt it slightly more during the faster running but not too bad. Hopefully it will behave for the rest of the day and for tomorrows race.

     I got up at 4:15 this morning so that my wife and son and I could get away by a little before 5 am to make the 50 minute drive down to Providence. There was a very long line of cars backed up and not moving clear out to the highway and down the highway to catch the buses at the finish so we drove on up to the start line and my wife dropped me off there. I warmed up for a mile then waited for the race to start. It was about 20 min late starting probably because it nearly doubled in size [since last year] to over 2000 runners. 

     The race started and I ran the first mile in 6:16 which is about where I wanted to be on these first few canyon miles. I felt like I didn't have a lot of energy and the pace felt too hard this morning. I slowed to 6:26 for the second mile and 6:25 for the 3rd. My back went out on me last Monday morning and I wasn't able to run all week until Friday when I did a 6 mile run. This may have had me a little stale. Mile 4 was about the same in 6:26 but then miles 5,6,and 7 were better at 6:18, 6:14, and 6:14.  Just out of the canyon during the 7th mile my wife and son [who I didn't expect to see until the finished ] surprised me by being there and cheering me on with posters they had made that morning after dropping me off. That was a nice boost.   Now out of the canyon miles 8,9,and 10 were 6:34, 6:33, and 6:40. The first half of mile 11 is pretty flat but then all uphill on the second half. This was 6:49. The 12th mile climbs the whole way and I hit it in 6:56. I would have been happy with 1:26 time for the race but really had a goal of 1:25. With my slow start I had kind of given up on 1:25 but at this point I realized I might be close it I could run a good last mile. I ran mile 13 in 6:19 then the final .16 [according to my garmin] at 5:28 pace. The clock at the finish said 1:24:48. Great ! But then I checked my garmin and it said 1:25:06 which is what my official time ended up which put my average pace at 6:29.  My Garmin read long [13.16]. Probably because we were told to stay on the right side of the road and that windy canyon road gets measured by the tangents. This is my first time for this race. My only other two 1/2 marathons were both Painters half so this is a PR of nearly 4 min but definitely a faster course. I was pleased though that as lousey as I felt the first few miles, I didn't really feel that worn out in the end. Hopefully that will be a good sign for St George. Another plus was my back didn't bother me much during the run and was only mildly sore afterward. We'll have to see how it feels by Monday. All in all I'm happy with the result and was 3rd in my age group behind speedy Scott Ensign and Bill Cobler. Just wish I had shaved 6 seconds somewhere to get that sub 1:25. I guess that just gives me something to shoot for next time.

     Ran 9 miles this morning and took it fairly easy. I didn't feel too bad from Saturdays race just a little quad soreness. My back had almost zero pain which made me happy. It was a little sore Sat. evening and Sunday but felt fine today. Overall pace 8:28.

    PM   1 easy mile