my makeup may be flaking

AM Two loops sugarhouse. My knee felt a little sore today, still.

PM Running around campus.

Wasn't planning on doing this race until yesterday. I woke up feeling pretty dehydrated and also pretty groggy. I also didn't get a great warmup in as I couldn't figure out where the course went and it was slightly unclear when the race would start.

The race played out pretty much like any other 5k with weak competition in that I cruised to a 16:45. The problem was that the police escort wasn't inspiring much confidence so I didn't want to get way out in front and then go the wrong way. There were two police officers on scooters and at the very first intersection one went one way and one went another which is actually a bit confusing. At the second intersection the police officer went the wrong way and pulled over to the side to shout instructions at us. Then he waited before catching up to the leaders again, which was enough time for me to take a wrong turn. After this I asked him to stay in front of me because I don't know where I'm going. (There was no map available.) From then on it was fine and I just worried about running fast. I actually was able to about a 5:15 for the last mile which I was pretty pleased with and won by 45 seconds.

Afterwards and ran back and looked for Allie who was trying out a new race strategy. 

This race was primarily to see how I responded to "Des News" type conditions. I had initially hoped to run sub 1:12 and I thought that a sub 1:10 was in play. I had all but ruled out those possibilities before the race even started however.

I got up at 4am and sat on my couch eating artisan bread with hummus and watching South Park while drinking water (traditional pre race routine). Something was not right however, I was parched. I needed to keep drinking water to stop myself from getting cotton mouth and I felt like there was no realistic way to drink enough water before the start.

I left my house at 5:25am and I remember thinking how HOT it was. I jogged through salt lake city to get to the start and I could feel my body overheating, I was not sweating at all, there was nothing to sweat out. We were bussed to the start line and I remember wishing that I wasn't decked head to foot in the Union Jack. I wanted to ask another runner if I could have some water as I was desperate.

At the starting line up the canyon it was still a little warm but it was cooler and there seemed to be very little sun. I looked around for some water but...no luck. I kind of threw my prerace plan out of the window and decided I would take it easy until the last 5k.

There were quite a few good runners there that I recognised from this summer but from talking to them I had the impression that they were making their half marathon debuts. "I want to hit 5:40s and come in under 1:20" one said. Does not compute. There was a general consensus of taking it easy at the start because it would be hot. I advised to hit the last 4 miles hard because it was a downhill finish...damn my good advice.

Anyway, after the 1st mile it was just me and one other guy at 5:34 and I was feeling very relaxed. In the 2nd mile I opened a little lead and so I started throwing in some short bursts to shake him entirely. Thanks to the surges, that mile was 5:13. I relaxed a little running 5:26 for the third mile. I looked back and could see that I had already had about a 30 second lead built up and I was starting to feel pretty confident. Mile 4 was only 5:44 as I slowed down a little to drink some water but I looked back and saw he was now close to a minute back and almost out of sight. I decided to see what I could do on the next mile and have it still feel "sensible". That turned out to be a 5:20 and at this point I was sure that the race was over. I was not cramping up badly and I had a rapidly expanding lead.

In the last canyon mile I started to become aware of the heat and my own thirst. I slowed to take water again and ran 5:41 for the 6th mile and I was on about 1:12 pace halfway through. It was at this point that I noticed the race was departing from the course map. Instead of going through this is the place we ran down sunnyside a way. I had a good idea of what was coming next, a long climb up to the shoreline trail and I was right. Suffering from the heat I climbed the hills fairly conservatively and I was certain that my pace had veered over 6 minute pace. I didn't take another split until mile 9. That was 17:19 for the 3 miles uphill which seemed plausible but I was certain I had been slower.

I climbed the little switchback on the shoreline trail that represented the last hill and now I could see a runner in blue moving very fast at the base of the climb. He couldn't have been much more than a minute behind me and he had been nowhere in sight before. I knew that, even accounting for the hills, my pace had slowed dramatically but there didn't seem to be much I could do about it. I just kind of hoped that I would be able to hit the last couple of miles fast enough that he wouldn't catch me.

Unfortunately miles 10 and 11 combined were only 12:04 despite what I perceived to be high effort. (Afterwards I thought the course might have been long, but it also might have been due to my fatigue). I still held the lead as I turned on to the final loop around city creek. It was a downhill finish and looking back I couldn't see the guy in blue anymore. Then, right as we the course doubled back I saw him about 10 seconds behind my closing very fast. We had about a mile to go and I was weakening but not completely. I found a little bit of extra juice to hold on to those final few seconds but he caught me right as we came in sight of the Capitol Building.

NOOOO! A voice yelled in my head, you cannot let this happen again! My legs were burning but I asked them "can you kick?" and they responded "just tell me when". I should add that as the guy in blue passed he gave me a nonchalant "good job". Please, don't ever do that to someone who you are about to pass in the last mile of a half marathon. It's kind of a dick thing to do, although I'm sure he meant well.

Anyway I stayed close enough and finally turned on the afterburners in the 100meters. I blew by him and then almost fell going around the final turn before sprinting again to get the win by 2 seconds. Very tough race, my first ever half marathon win.

Not sure what to make of the time. Not totally encouraging to run 1:14:54 when your goal is sub 2:30. I think with some better handling of the logistics I can do it.

A good race, ultimately quite well run with an interesting course.

I did two loops of Sugarhouse Park in the heat of they day...probably dumb.

In the evening, three loops of Sugarhouse with Chris and Allie.

Ran from my office to Sugarhouse then up to Tanner park, along the bike path and back via foothill. A nice 13 mile loop that I think will be added to the rotation.

In the evening (10pm) did two loops liberty park.

Ran with Lily, Allie, Merri and Susan around Spanish Fork on the Speedy Spaniard Speedway. I was very sore today and probably would have run slower by myself. Afterwards Breakfast at Ruths

Last 20 miler prior to Des News. Allie was kind enough to drive me all the way to the start so I could experience the Big Mountain prior to race day. In all honesty I was not expecting much from today because my legs were pretty sore from the half marathon on Monday and I had hit my biggest mileage week of the year.

Anyway, I decided that this was good practice for me as it would force me to try and run the downhill in a way that limited the damage to my quads (which complained loudly when anything was asked of them today). I found that if I took short, extremely fast step then I could avoid the braking that normally trashes the legs. This was pretty mentally challenging but I'll probably only have to do it for the first 2-2.5 miles of the race. I obviously was not cutting tangest but I reached the 1st mile mark in about 5:45 and mile 3 in 17:05. I began to stride more normally after that I got to the mile 4 mark in 22:58 and mile 5 in 28:49. These miles are all just approximate as I was sticking to the shoulder on the left hand side of the road. However, they showed that as the road flattened out, I did not slow much because I was quite fatigued.

In fact, those first couple of miles were so terrible that I found myself looking forward to climbing little mountain. Allie met me just before the turn and offered me some powerade. The plan was to have her meet me here and then every two miles starting at 14 to simulate what it would be like on the race day. The 6th mile is actually quite a climb and I made the turn toward little moutain averaging 5:48 pace.

I dug in climbing little mountain and I did start to feel "better" because I wasn't breaking but my legs were very sore and my calves were tightening up from overcompensating. I stopped briefly when I got to the top and gave them a massage before downing a GU and heading off again. Now it was time for some long, lonely, painful miles dowm Emigration before I could see Allie again. I reminded myself that once I got out of the Canyon I would almost be done, so it wasn't really that bad. I actually was only about 5 secs per mile slower then two weeks ago going down the canyon when I felt much better. Today, I didn't really try to force it, just to take what my legs could give me and I managed to hold it together down the canyon just fine running low 5:40s. At 14 miles I saw Allie again and that reinvigorated me. In the marathon, that would mean 12 miles to go. Today it meant 6 to go and that was a much easier thought mentally.

I'm very happy with how I run the last section of the canyon and today I carried that momemtum up the Crestview Drive hill. In fact, I attacked the whole Wasatch drive section very well. Besides being somewhat less than efficient with my Gu and drinking (and some construction on the sidewalks that caused several detours) I managed the same time as my last tempo. I turned on to Foothill and realized that I felt great. I was running basically 2:35 pace at this point and felt that I could have run strong through the finish. I contented myself to run the foothill section strongly and once again this proved to be a good section for me.

Once I got to Sunnyside I decided to jog down 500S to the fieldhouse to finish my run. Even though I had felt strong, stopping at the light made me realize just how much I had tired my legs out.

I think that the fatigue in my legs cost me 1 minute in the opening miles, and using the rule of thumb that the taper gives me 10-15 seconds a mile, I'm thinking that I can get 2:28-2:31 on the day.

Even after my first day off in 4 weeks, my quads still felt pretty sore today. I ran to the mouth of emigration canyon and ran miles 16-21 of the Des News course while plotting my strategy for beating fritz. I may try to roller blade the first 4 miles.

After sleeping on some blocks of ice for the past couple of night, I feel a little better.

Ran bits of the Des News course. 16:08 from the department to the zoo. 14:30 (2.5 miles) from the zoo to foothill. 13:20 (2.3 miles) down foothill.

With Allie

I had been eyeing this race all summer as an opporunity to finally break 16 in SLC on a fair course. I've broken 16 twice at running of the leopards and also 4 times on the track at sea level.

All week my legs had been feeling pretty tired from running down big mountain on Saturday so my expectations were low. I had no real reason to think that I would be able to approach the barrier. I saw a bunch of fast guys at the start and I just throught that I would stick my nose in there and try to compete. The result was...compelling.

I've had this nasty habit all summer of running these wonderfully relaxed opening miles at super fast paces and then fading badly. I have started with the leaders at EVERY circuit race i have done this year. At the start today, I was simply outclassed. There was Teren, obviously. There was Jamal Tongo, who typically beats me by a minute in the 5k. There was Brandon Hebbert (1:05 and 1:06 half marathons this summer and also a two minute crushing of me on Memorial day). The "slow" guy was Jake Krong who has run 14:37 and 2:21 this summer. And yet in the first mile there I was running with them. My legs felt very tired, with my quads still feeling some fatigue, but that was my only discomfort. I was a little confused as my breathing was fine and my stride felt natural and I was running next to some of the best road racers in the state.

I thought that maybe we were starting out slow, but this was not the case. I fell off the leaders right before the mile, which I reached in 4:53. On that course, a 4:53 first mile corresponds to about a 14:59. I assumed the first mile must have been downhill, but it was actually uphill. Anyway in the second mile and could feel my legs just loosing power. I just do not have that type of speed endurance.

I actually maintained a decent pace the rest of the race and only got passed by Nate Hornok. I barely missed out on sub 16, but I was totally shocked at how well I did. In fact, I was convinced the course was .1 short until I got home and measured it. The course tool reported that it was maybe 15 seconds slow compared to flat. This is pretty exciting as I wouldn't even call this an especially good day or anything but it is close to my best ever 5k (15:26 flat, sea level).

I think that after I recover from this marathon (hopefully at some point in 2011), I will work on my speed endurance a little. Once that happens, I will hopefully be able to stay with these guys all the way to the finish (and beat them).

10.1 in 60:31 (31:41,28:50)

I remember telling myself all summer that just because I, in theory, could, break 2:30 here, that 2:35 would not be a disaster.

Well let me tell you 2:35 was a disaster, at least it felt like a disaster, and I couldn't believe I salvaged the time that I did.

First off, I should say that I really need money at the moment so I was hoping that I could at least bag the $500 for 2nd place. Allie dropped me off at the buses and I immediately ran into Steve Andersen, who told me that John Kotter was running. Ha! Oh well. I found John at the starting line to tell him how much of a jerk I thought he was, which was tough because it turns out he is a very pleasant, humble guy. I told him to not go too crazy at the start which I suppose he didn't, he really is just a lot faster than me.

Anyway, I'm going to do this race report Paul/Sasha style because I think it warrants it.

Mile 1 (5:02.58): Yes that's very fast, but for those that don't know this is very fast, downhill mile. I was in 5th after the first mile and was probably much closer to 6th and 7th than the 4th place runner. My pacing sheet for Des News said that this mile was 20 seconds too fast so I decided to try to slow it down.

Mile 2 (5:16,10:18): This was right on the pace that I wanted to hit. I remember feeling a little bit of a twinge in my shin in this mile and also really wishing that the downhill would stop.

Mile 3 (5:16,15:35): I really tried to slow it down this mile and I did (relatively speaking) as this should have been faster. My legs were already suffering from the pace and I didn't really know what to do about it. Also I really needed to pee! I do a time check during this mile and I see that I'm 1 minute behind John, Fritz and Rossy. The 4th place guy is still extending his lead.

Mile 4 (5:27,21:02): I still need to pee. I also am kind of feeling the water sloshing around in my stomach. On the plus side, I am still hitting the splits that I want. Effort wise, the pace feels fine, but my legs feel very tired.

Mile 5 (5:40,26:43): First sign of trouble here as I can't find a good rhythm on this flat section. 4th place runner is now coming back to me very fast losing maybe 20 seconds to me in this mile.

Mile 6 (6:01,32:45): The first of three miles of uphill here. I pick up a little bit of time here as I surge to catch the 4th place runner and then push hard on the uphill. I can now see the road up little mountain and I watch for the figures of fritz and John climbing. There are almost 3 minutes ahead. (Note Fritz was 2:34 ahead of me at mile 6).

Mile 7 (6:34,39:18): Relative to the performance chart, my strongest mile of the race. I wanted to see faster than this or for it to feel easier. This is the a major worry for me as I have now slowed to tempo run pace with the same effort. The altitude is causing me problems.

Mile 8 (6:11, 45:30): I clearly slowed down quite dramatically here as this mile should have been faster. However I was trying to get my breath back and get into a groove so it makes sense. It was still right on pace.

Mile 9 (5:26, 50:56): Pretty relaxed downhill mile and I started to feel very good. I caught Rossy in this mile and we ran together until Burr's lane. This was the 8th mile in a row for which I had hit the split that I would have considered "ideal" with 5 or 10 seconds. I was now needing to pee though. Also, this was the mile when I was supposed to take my first Gu but I didn't feel like putting anything in my stomach.

Mile 10 (5:42,56:38): I got a boost in this mile as I saw Fritz and John at the turnaround. They still looked good but their lead did not seem insurmountable. I knew that they must be on a killer pace and I still had a shot. I was 3:38 back at this point.

Mile 11 (5:29,1:02:07): Did not feel comfortable in this mile at all. I'm not sure how much this mile cost me, but I definitely surged on this mile which was a mistake. I had planned to wait until mile 13 to surge, but I didn't want their lead to get insurmountably large.

Mile 12 (5:35,1:07:42): I was still on my goal pace (almost exactly) but I was having to push pretty hard to do it. My legs felt empty in this mile and I felt like I was slapping the ground rather than the smooth, silent turnover that I can normally achieve. I have 14 miles left! I also not enjoying the downhill as I'm beginning to feel nauseous.

Mile 13 (5:41,1:13:24 Half 1:14:00):Exactly where I want to be at the half but all systems not functional. I remember how I felt at halfway in my last two marathons and it was not like this. I take a Gu out of my pocket and take one suck before throwing it down in disgust. This would turn out to be a wise decision.

Mile 14 (5:45,1:19:04): Somehow I'm still holding it together pace-wise, even as my stomach starts to churn and my legs begin to falter.

Mile 15 (5:43,1:24:52): The plan on miles 14-18 was to attack every uphill and I'm still doing that here, but it is merely delaying the inevitable. I'm still on pace for a 2:30 at this point, somewhat miraculously.

Mile 16 (5:48, 1:30:41): I really cannot believe that I'm still hitting sub 6 at this point. I've decided at this point that I'm stopping at the next bathroom. I'm not sure it will help, but it seems worth a try. As I turn off the canyon road I'm told that the leaders are 5:29 ahead. (Fritz was 5:57 ahead at mile 16).

Mile 17/18 (12:11.1:42:52): I missed the split at 17 because the aid station was right next to it. There was no one there to give me water even though I was yelling to get there attention. There was just a "sorry, 2 more miles." Not what I needed. I'm pretty sure that 17 was still sub 6. In the 18th mile there is a hill that I have run many times this summer and attacked with a vengeance each time. There was no attack this time. My breathing was getting a little ragged at it was clear that my strength was leaving me.

Mile 19 (6:00, 1:48:52): I had given up on sub 2:30 at this point. As I knew that trying to gut it out would be a disaster. I knew that unless I had another dramatic drop off that I might still salvage 2:33-2:34. By the way I'm still looking for a bathroom.

Mile 20 (6:12, 1:55:04): I'm just trying to hold it together here. I keep stumbling and tripping.

Mile 21 (6:47, 2:01:51): I cease holding it together here. In hindsight this mile is not so bad but I feel pretty terrible and I could really afford to slow down anymore. This mile is uphill but it should only have been 20 seconds slower than mile 20 not 35 seconds. And also mile 20 was pretty bad too.

Mile 22 (5:51, 2:07:42): Ok, where is there going to be a bathroom, this is getting ridiculous. Downhill mile but I'm clearly still surviving.

Mile 23 (7:03, 2:14:45): This mile included a 44 second bathroom break so the running part only took my 6:19. I'm still holding it together. The fact that I took a stop this close to the end tell you just how bad I was feeling. Felt much happier after this.

Mile 24 (6:14, 2:2059): Out of the frying pan, into the fire. In this mile I felt half the skin rip off of my right heel forcing me to limp for a bit until the pain numbed. It's unclear how I ran a 6:14 here as I felt like I was walking down south temple (in my tempo run this mile was sub 6 pretty easily).

Mile 25 (6:24,2:27:23): A sub 2:35 slipped away during this mile but in my defense the other half of the skin ripped off of my heel at this point. I was now counting down the block.

Mile 26.2 (7:59,2:35:22): This mile is a little harder so I held it together about as well here. I almost burst into tears at the end of this race, it was quite an ordeal.

Immediately saw Allie and Allie's grandparents which was nice. I was then interviewed by the paper which was exciting. I held back my tears during the interview.

I wasn't sad about the race, or even angry. The race was a disaster, but a 2:35 is NOT a disaster for me. I know my body and I know my training and I know that it was reasonable for me to run 2:30-2:32 today. I anticipate a speedier recovery than previous marathons to back up this assertion. So why did I run 2:35?

First my legs felt bad from the beginning, around mile 2. This often happens in races, but clearly I do not handle the sustained downhill very well. I'm good at using downhill it short bursts but it is becoming clear from my racing history that downhill makes me suffer.

See (ROTL 2009/11, Striders 2009, Boston 2010, Des News 2010, Freedom Half 2011)

Also let's look at some of my best performances:(RNR 2009 (hilly), Seattle Half 08/09 (Hilly), Striders 10 mile 2009 (very hilly), MI half 2010 (Hilly), ROTL 2009 (downhill, but 5k), Draper Days 2011(hilly), Classic 10k 2010(hilly))

It's clear that I am not a proficient downhill runner, which is unfortunate given that I live in Utah.

2nd, I felt nauseous. I ate very little before or during the race but I think that this might be the problem. I normally eat quite a bit before a marathon (bagels. chips, rice crackers) but this is normally about 4 hours before. Having my stomach contain only Gu and gatorade was probably not a good idea.

3rd, the skin ripped off of my feet...Well, you know what, that's just the Des News Marathon.

Positives:

-I did hit my pace for about 16 miles. Sasha often says that the training gets you the first 16 miles and the rest is a matter of the day. Clearly I'm doing something right in traning.

-Oh right also I didn't run in Jan, Feb, March because of a knee injury. I had a bit of a knee scare this week but it was actually fine during the race.

-As I mentioned earlier, I am hoping to recover faster from this race as I didn't run on pace the last few miles (famous last words).

-After the race I lay down on my couch feeling ill. Allie came over, brought me some smoothies and gave me a massage until I fell asleep.