Wheeler Farm Loops

Outlined how I ended up at this race in Kansas City in Friday's post. Was shooting for mid 30s, but more importantly to compete well and place high. Accomplished the latter and more important goal.

It was a little windy this morning and that probably made the course harder than I expected. "Flat" is a relative term in KC... it wasn't that hilly, but had a few short rhythm-breaking inclines. Weather was good, though - low 70s, and rain held off until after it was over.

Started slow (5:10) in a big pack (10 guys) then I reluctantly injected some pace and got the race started for real... strung it out a little. Benson Chesang rolled off a couple 4:45s and opened up a large gap that was hard to bridge in the wind. By ~3.5 miles it was down to me and long-haired guy (Javier Ceja) for second. Miles 2-4 were 4:51, 4:58, 4:46. So, all over the place, but felt like a consistent effort.

The pace slowed on miles 5-6 (5:10, 5:05). Javier and I went back and forth a bit, neither one of us really wanting to commit to a long push. Just before the 6 mile mark I noticed his stride falter a little, so I threw it down and was able to outkick him, putting about 6 seconds on him over the last quarter. I'm closing races a lot better, and starting to get more confident in my ability to finish strong. 

Not a fast time, but I feel like I ran smart... and I'll take $500 for 2nd place in a 10K! 

Benson (2X Big 12 Champ in XC and 13:57 5K) won in 30:55. After talking to him afterwards, I realized he was fading at the end. Another half-mile and I might have gotten him. I wasn't really even paying attention to him at the end - I was more focused on my race with Javier. Waited a bit too long to make a push to break the tape, but like I said - I ran the smartest race I could to ensure a high finish and not blow up. Did a cooldown run with Benson and the guys from the KC Smoke team. Nice group of guys.

As I said yesterday, this was a great all-around event / atmosphere. I'm glad I decided to make the trip to KC.

Finish line GIF...

AM - 15 miles (3.5 up, race, 5.5 down)
PM - 4 miles w/ Andrea (bike) after getting back to SLC.

Some more photos...

Start (I can't find myself in this - where was I?!)

Probably around 2.5 miles

Not sure what point this was

Post-race

My rental car (only $10 + tax for this babe-magnet!):

AM - 7 miles.

PM - 10 miles. Best Buy loop w/ the Alta XC guys. Got in trouble (from one of the football coaches) for not dressing in "modest" attire.

Solid stretch / soak in the hot tub afterwards.

AM - 5 miles. Horsepark loop w/ Andrea.

PM - 6 miles. Track workout w/ the Alta team. Wanted to balance my own interests (recovering from the 10K, getting over a minor cold, and being ready for this upcoming weekend) with helping Kramer get ready for the Bob Firman Invite on Saturday. He was doing 3 x 1600 at 5K pace, so I ended up pacing him for 80% of the workout. I ran the first 1600m, then 800/400m on the second rep, and 1200m on the third - splits were something like 4:45, 2:22, 71, 3:37. Afterwards I sort of felt bad that I didn't just do the whole thing with him, because the wind was brutal this afternoon, but I guess in hindsight this was probably a good compromise.

Another good hot tub session afterwards. The great thing about running at Alta HS in the afternoons is that I have to drive right past 24 Fitness on my way home, so there's no reason not to stop in and soak for a while.

AM - Off. Rest.

PM - 8 miles + massage.

Best piece of literature you'll read this week: How Far Did Rocky Go in His Training Run in ‘Rocky II’? This is a simply fantastic blog post. Thank you, internet.

AM - 6 miles. JAJA from HHS.

PM - 6 miles w/ Andrea (bike).

Nice article about Kramer Morton and the Alta XC team in today's Salt Lake Tribune. One of their photographers took some photos during our workout on Tuesday.

AM - 5 miles. Horsepark.

Pre-TOU thoughts...

I went back and forth on running TOU a lot this year. I finally decided I was "in" for certain about 6 weeks ago, sent in my registration and put the race on my schedule. Andrea tried to talk me out of it a hundred times, and for the record - I agree with every reason she gave me about why I shouldn't run. There are a lot of risks here. Last year I yanked my hamstring in this race and had to shut down my season. That ended up being OK, as winning TOU was a nice cap to the year. This year, however, I have other goals for the next few months that are much more important.

I'll freely admit that running a marathon I haven't really specifically prepared for is not a good idea. I think I've done 6 long runs of 20+ miles this entire year (20 mile days are a lot different than 20 mile runs), and have almost completely neglected (by design) the longer MP tempos this summer. My primary goal this fall is to PR in the half-marathon at Indianapolis, so throwing in a mid-September marathon doesn't exactly jive with that plan. BUT on the other hand, I love this race and want to be a part of it. As defending champ, I feel somewhat obligated to get back on the line. In addition, I'm well-aware that simply finishing will probably get me the overall win in the USATF Circuit. 

Anyways, we agreed to a certain set of rules that I'm going to try and hold myself to:

-This cannot be an all-out effort. Something around 2:28-2:30 would be ideal. The worst thing I can do is run 2:24 (enough to beat me up and set back my training).
-If anything hurts or bothers me, drop out immediately. There's no glory in running through (or creating) an injury.
-If anyone takes the pace out fast, let them go. Don't get caught up in the early stages of the race.
-Don't take the lead unless it's an effort to control the pace.
-If the pace is slower and I'm feeling good towards the end (last 5K), then go for it.

Those 5 rules add up to one over-arching theme: Don't be stupid.

The field is pretty stacked on paper - Scott Wietecha, Riley, Bryant Jensen, Brett Hales, and Seth Pilkington are the names I recognize, a couple Kenyans running who I don't know, and probably some others that I'm missing. Although with STG coming up in two weeks, I wouldn't be surprised if Riley/Bryant skipped this or use it as a workout.

Scott and I have talked strategy and we want to try and work together for a 1-2 finish. Ideally, the slower the pace the better - then go for the tape in the last 5-10K. Off a slow pace, I'm confident in my ability to finish strong if I'm in contention (like I did at Phoenix in March). I feel like I actually have a much better chance to win off a faster pace, but I'm not willing to do that kind of damage to my legs right now.

Who knows how this strategy will play out? All it takes is one guy to take it hard in the early stages of the race, and the plan immediately gets thrown out the window (that's why I'm writing and saving this post on Wednesday, but not clicking "publish" until after the race is over - not giving anyone any ideas!). If it goes faster early, which the more I think about it is actually almost a certainty with the amount of fast, competitive guys that will be on the line, I just have to keep my ego in check and let it go - run at a steady effort, get a good workout, and keep in mind my other goals for the fall.

In an ideal world, the race will be tactical and I'll have a chance at the end. In a more ideal world, I'll stick to the rules I outlined above. We'll see... hopefully I don't regret doing this.

Pre-race thoughts / strategy / goals in yesterday's post. In summary, Scottt Wietecha and I wanted to go 1-2 while taking it somewhat "easy" if possible and saving our legs a bit.

The strategy, as expected, went out the window immediately when Seth Pilkington shot off the line into the lead, and he was closely shadowed by another guy I didn't know (Jesse Dunn). Scott gave chase a little, and I positioned myself about 10 meters behind him - determined not to get "caught up" in the early racing. After a couple comfortable miles (5:26, 5:31), the pace increased a bit (5:19, 5:16), Seth/Scott pulled away, and I made the decision to not chase them. Jesse fell back after 6 miles, and I just tried to maintain a steady effort. I didn't want to press too hard, but I also wanted to keep Seth/Scott in sight, just in case they started to come back to me. Next 7 miles were 5:24, 5:29, 5:27, 5:24, 5:23, 5:28, 5:28. They had a big gap on me through 10 miles, and then somewhere around that point I noticed that Scott was pulling away from Seth, so I picked it up a bit and reeled Seth back relatively quickly over the next two miles (5:21, 5:21). Split at the half was around 1:11:00 - two minutes slower than last year, but it felt even easier than that.

Tailwind was strong coming out of the canyon, so mile 14 was the fastest of the race (5:14). Then on Hollow Road I really locked into a consistent groove - 5:24, 5:24, 5:24, 5:24. According to Mr. Timex, these 4 miles were all within two-tenths of a second of each other. 

A little past 18 miles Andrea gave me the update - Scott was a minute or so ahead, and Seth was about two minutes back. So it was time to decide whether to hammer the last portion or go into steady-hard-cruise control. I chose the latter and took it pretty easy up the Milleville hill (5:50, 5:42... although I overshot a turn by about 40 feet before realizing it - nearly a disaster!). Then it was really just about relaxing and keeping the effort under control for the last six miles - 5:33, 5:46, 5:46, 5:22 (oops, too fast!), 5:38, 5:36. I finished second in 2:23:33. Scott ran 2:22:34 to take first.

I couldn't believe how I felt at the end. No "wrecked" feeling like usual after 26.2. Not even a "semi-wrecked but don't really want to admit it" feeling. No pains or aches, just a little (expected) fatigue. Despite running about 5-7 minutes faster than I was planning to, I wasn't in the beat up state that I thought 2:23 would leave me in. We'll see how I feel in a week, but I'm cautiously optimistic that I'll come out of this OK and this won't derail progress towards my fall goals. This definitely felt the easiest of the six marathons I've run (which was the idea).

It was great that Scott and I could go 1-2, but the best part of the day came shortly after our finish... Allie's finish was awesome. Her 4th win at TOU, but more impressive - 2:44! What a huge, well-deserved breakthrough. The Top of Utah Marathon is not an easy course. The canyon is downhill but not ridicliously so, and the last 8 miles are challenging and can really expose you when you're chasing a fast time. That part of the course ate me up last year. I think Allie's time is really, really, really impressive. I couldn't be happier for her.

One of the things I did differently today was actually eat gels during the race. Not just open them, pretend to bring it up to my lips, then throw it on the ground like I've done in the past. I actually squeezed the gooey contents into my mouth and injested it. I took 4 whole gels (right before the start and at 7, 14, 20). This is a big deal for me because I've never gotten down more than one before. Obviously it made a big difference in how I felt, and I'll be replicating this strategy in future marathons.

Speaking of future marathons - apparently there is a rumor floating around that I'm running St George in two weeks? I've had like 10 people ask me, and I have no idea how that started. I can assure you that there is a 0.000% (ie. ZERO) chance that I'm running STG. I'll be laying on the couch watching the finish line webcast.

Major thanks to Andrea for being the on-course support crew for myself, Scott, Allie, and Devra. She helped the four of us bring home $5000 :-)

Herald-Journal article: Historic day for Moore at TOU Marathon, Wietecha beats friend for men's title. Jason Turner always does a great job covering local running.

Splits - 5:26, 5:31, 5:19, 5:16, 5:24, 5:29, 5:27, 5:24, 5:23, 5:28, 5:28, 5:21, 5:21, 5:14, 5:24, 5:24, 5:24, 5:24, 5:50, 5:42, 5:33, 5:46, 5:46, 5:22, 5:38, 5:36, 60. [1:11/1:12:30]

More photos from Andrea: TOU 2013