Saturday, October 29, 2016
Monster Dash 10 Mile - October 29, 2016
The Monster Dash 10 Mile is the second to last race on my 2016 season. I ran this race once previously in 2013. Just coming off a difficult marathon just 3 weeks ago, I really don't feel like I have the bounce back in my step yet. Although I'm not sure I've had the bounce in my step at any time this year. This winter I plan to completely revamp my off-season training program with the hope of entering next season with stronger/healthier legs that will hopefully translate to injury free racing next year. I've never experienced injuries during actual races prior to this year. It's been a crazy race season for me as a result. Next year I will graduate into the 60-65 age group and become the young kid on the block again. I really want to have a successful race season next year. One that allows me to run to my potential without holding back for fear of injury.
It was an unseasonably warm day for a morning race in late October. 52 degrees, cloudy with a moderate NW breeze. Rain was in the forecast, but held off until just after I finished the race. The Monster Dash draws large numbers because the course offers a 250 foot elevation drop from the start of the race to the finish. The chance for fast times is a key motivation for many runners. The other reason is the opportunity to dress up in Halloween costumes and attempt to run a race. I don't fall into that camp, but I tip my hat to a few runners who actually run competitive times in very uncomfortable costumes. What I don't like are the various logistical challenges that come with this downtown St. Paul race. Parking, Maneuvering to the start on foot. Trying to get back to your car after the race where the finish line is about a mile south from the start. It's not the easiest of races to deal with, but the course is the draw, so I don't anticipate this race moving elsewhere any time soon.
One interesting note is that race participation was way down this year due to bad press Team Ortho received this summer, surrounding one of their races that eventually had to be cancelled due to a course permit issue with the city of Minneapolis. It appears this left a bad taste in the mouth with many runners who have walked away from today's race. Team Ortho sponsors about a half dozen large race events in the Twin Cities each year that normally draw huge numbers. But today's runner participation was down about 50% to what they were last year. Still large participation relatively speaking (1,500 finishers), but not what they normally draw. Team Ortho appears to still be in some degree of damage control, with some work to do to rebuild their image. They do a great job promoting their races, but I think they would be better off trimming a few of their events from the calendar and focus on making a smaller number of races great again. They've shown the ability to put on good races in the past, so they should be able to do it again if they don't spread themselves too thin.
As previously mentioned, I came into this race a bit "dead legged" from my recent marathon, coupled with a small handful of nagging leg issues (calves/hamstrings). I've also had no luck avoiding injury, when attempting to run a sub 7 minute/mile pace. So I intentionally kept my pace right on 7 minutes/mile for the first 3 miles. Then, I began to slowly improve my pace from that point on. This strategy seemed to work out okay for me today. For the first time all year, I ran faster as the race progressed. I didn't re-aggravate my calf, or hamstring issues which have plagued me all year. This allowed me to push the pace, while gaining confidence with each passing mile. My last 5 miles were my fastest mile splits. I ran a 6:26 final mile, while also running the final 5k of the race in just over 20 minutes.
I finished with a time of 1:08:01, good for 15th place overall among 1,528 finishers and 3rd among 76 finishers in my 10 year age group (50-59). All things considered, this was my best race of the year. Nothing to pound my chest about, but a solid race that felt good because I was able to run strong through the finish. No flat tires along the way. This was my 3rd fastest 10 mile race among the 8 I've run, although still 2 minutes, 13 seconds off my best 10 mile time. I had no intentions of realistically challenging my PR today with the issues I've been dealing with this year. But in the back of my mind, it left me wondering what would have happened if I had attacked the race right from the start. Possibly an even faster time? Or maybe just another injury and disappointing finish. Today, I'm just going to be happy with the result I had and leave it at that.
My final race of the season is a 5k in downtown Minneapolis, on Thanksgiving Day morning.
Race Results:
http://www.mtecresults.com/runner/show?race=4806&rid=6194
Sunday, October 9, 2016
Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon - October 9, 2016
I can't believe this is my 6th Twin Cities Marathon today. Always the highlight of my race season, particularly since I trimmed down to just one marathon per year. It also brings me full circle back to where my very first race nine years ago (2007). Even in 2007, I thought this was going to be a "one and done" thing. No idea I would still be doing this almost 10 years later. Hoping very much that this race will be a highlight to what has been a very disappointing race season for me so far. Every year I've been able to point to a small handful of races where I surprised myself by exceeding my expectations. So far this year, none of my races can be categorized in that manner.
The biggest issue this year has been a small handful of in-race injuries (calf cramping) that derailed my performance - particularly in the shorter/faster races. I've never had an injury during a race until this year. But this year it became the norm, forcing me to drop out of one race and skip another for fear of re-injury. Although I dropped out of a half marathon at the midway point, I was able to finish two other half marathons without injury. However my times were slower than expected. But I'm coming into today's race feeling very good about how my aggressive high mileage training has gone over the past six weeks.
Then three days before the marathon, I became ill. A bad head cold completely sapped my strength. On Friday, two days before the marathon, I really thought I would have to withdraw due to illness. A 26 mile race is nothing to mess around with - particularly when one's health is not 100%. However it's also very hard to walk away, after months of hard work and training to prepare for the race. I convinced myself last night that I felt well enough to give it a go. Deep down I knew I wasn't 100%. A bad head cold usually takes two weeks to flush through my system. This was just going to be another obstacle to overcome in a race season filled with many obstacles.
Another reason I wanted to run so badly today was the weather. We have been blessed with good weather for this race almost every year and today was no exception. It was sunny, dry and relatively calm with an air temperature in the upper 30's at the start, warming to the upper 40's by the end of race. In the weeks leading up to the race, I always worry about the potential for bad weather. The marathon is a long, difficult, grueling race that doesn't need help from the weather to make it even tougher than it already is. But today, the weather was about as good as you can ask for.
Although the weather was great for racing, 38 degrees is a bit chilly just waiting around for the race to start. With U.S. Bank Stadium now in operation, just two blocks from the starting line, it would have been nice for the doors to be open for runners to warm like was done in the old Metrodome days. However today, the Vikings have a home game at noon and new security laws prevent non-event access to the building 24 hours prior to the game. This conflict was caused by the Ryder Cup which was in town last weekend. Normally, marathon weekend would have been last weekend too, but was pushed to this weekend to allow the Ryder Cup to take center stage. The NFL will continue to schedule the Vikings out of town the first weekend in October, so the marathon can utilize the stadium as base camp for the runners before the race, as in years past with the Metrodome.
As the race began, all was good. I settled into my race pace and tried to feed off the noisy crowds that lined the Minneapolis lakes and parkways that dominate the first half of the race. Heading north on the east side of Lake Nokomis is the midway point of the race. There are time clocks scattered throughout the course, but it's the clock on Nokomis at the 13.1 mile mark that I use to gauge how I'm doing and motivate me for the second half of the race. My time was 1:38 this year. Two minutes slower than last year. Still not bad though, but it was the first indication that a 3:15 marathon may not be waiting for me at the end of the race.
I didn't want to allow negative thoughts into my head at the time, but if I had been honest with myself, I would have recognized that I wasn't running as smooth and efficiently as I did last year. My time was okay to this point, but the first half of the race took more out of me than it did last year, despite running two minutes slower. Over the next five miles I tried to convince myself that because I ran two minutes slower, I now have more energy left in the tank to tackle the second half of the race. A positive approach to take mentally, but one that became more and more difficult to convince myself of with each mile that passed.
Like it or not and I definitely didn't like it, my mile splits were not delivering the news I was hoping for. No major "bonks" but the splits were a few seconds slower with each mile I completed. As I reached the 18 mile mark, shortly before crossing over to the St Paul side of the river, I knew my time was going to be at least five minutes slower than last year. So I held out hope that I could "will" myself to a 3;20 marathon over the final eight miles of the race. Miles 20 and 21 are slightly downhill along the east side of the river on the St Paul side. But my mile splits continued to slow, despite to help of gravity. This was a devastating and fatal blow to my psyche. At that point I admitted to myself that my tank was truly empty and I still had five miles to go. The next two miles (22/23) were uphill, the toughest two miles of the course. I was running on life support now. It was clear that although I was feeling better this morning than I had been the prior two days, my body had not fully recovered from my illness and I began this race with less than a full tank of gas.
There is nothing worse in a marathon, than to realize your goals are no longer achievable and yet you somehow still need to reach the finish line. All motivation is gone and the miles seem to be suspended in time. You run and run, but never seem to reach the next mile split...or so it seems. It was an ugly finish for me, but I did finish. The attached pictures are blurry because I captured still images from several video clips my son took from different locations along the course. Although they seem appropriate, as my mind was in a complete fog and my vision just as blurry. I finished with a time of 3:29:53 - 15 minutes slower than last year. My slowest marathon in 6 years. Overall, I finished 1,045 out of 8,556 finishers and 22 out of 229 finishers in my age group. It is what it is. This race fits right in with how my race season has gone this year. I have two races remaining to close the season. A 10 Mile race on October 29th and a Thanksgiving Day 5k. My optimism is always renewed as a new race approaches. But as for today, I'm just glad it's over.
Race results: http://www.mtecresults.com/runner/show?rid=2217&race=4497
The biggest issue this year has been a small handful of in-race injuries (calf cramping) that derailed my performance - particularly in the shorter/faster races. I've never had an injury during a race until this year. But this year it became the norm, forcing me to drop out of one race and skip another for fear of re-injury. Although I dropped out of a half marathon at the midway point, I was able to finish two other half marathons without injury. However my times were slower than expected. But I'm coming into today's race feeling very good about how my aggressive high mileage training has gone over the past six weeks.
Then three days before the marathon, I became ill. A bad head cold completely sapped my strength. On Friday, two days before the marathon, I really thought I would have to withdraw due to illness. A 26 mile race is nothing to mess around with - particularly when one's health is not 100%. However it's also very hard to walk away, after months of hard work and training to prepare for the race. I convinced myself last night that I felt well enough to give it a go. Deep down I knew I wasn't 100%. A bad head cold usually takes two weeks to flush through my system. This was just going to be another obstacle to overcome in a race season filled with many obstacles.
Another reason I wanted to run so badly today was the weather. We have been blessed with good weather for this race almost every year and today was no exception. It was sunny, dry and relatively calm with an air temperature in the upper 30's at the start, warming to the upper 40's by the end of race. In the weeks leading up to the race, I always worry about the potential for bad weather. The marathon is a long, difficult, grueling race that doesn't need help from the weather to make it even tougher than it already is. But today, the weather was about as good as you can ask for.
Although the weather was great for racing, 38 degrees is a bit chilly just waiting around for the race to start. With U.S. Bank Stadium now in operation, just two blocks from the starting line, it would have been nice for the doors to be open for runners to warm like was done in the old Metrodome days. However today, the Vikings have a home game at noon and new security laws prevent non-event access to the building 24 hours prior to the game. This conflict was caused by the Ryder Cup which was in town last weekend. Normally, marathon weekend would have been last weekend too, but was pushed to this weekend to allow the Ryder Cup to take center stage. The NFL will continue to schedule the Vikings out of town the first weekend in October, so the marathon can utilize the stadium as base camp for the runners before the race, as in years past with the Metrodome.
As the race began, all was good. I settled into my race pace and tried to feed off the noisy crowds that lined the Minneapolis lakes and parkways that dominate the first half of the race. Heading north on the east side of Lake Nokomis is the midway point of the race. There are time clocks scattered throughout the course, but it's the clock on Nokomis at the 13.1 mile mark that I use to gauge how I'm doing and motivate me for the second half of the race. My time was 1:38 this year. Two minutes slower than last year. Still not bad though, but it was the first indication that a 3:15 marathon may not be waiting for me at the end of the race.
I didn't want to allow negative thoughts into my head at the time, but if I had been honest with myself, I would have recognized that I wasn't running as smooth and efficiently as I did last year. My time was okay to this point, but the first half of the race took more out of me than it did last year, despite running two minutes slower. Over the next five miles I tried to convince myself that because I ran two minutes slower, I now have more energy left in the tank to tackle the second half of the race. A positive approach to take mentally, but one that became more and more difficult to convince myself of with each mile that passed.
Like it or not and I definitely didn't like it, my mile splits were not delivering the news I was hoping for. No major "bonks" but the splits were a few seconds slower with each mile I completed. As I reached the 18 mile mark, shortly before crossing over to the St Paul side of the river, I knew my time was going to be at least five minutes slower than last year. So I held out hope that I could "will" myself to a 3;20 marathon over the final eight miles of the race. Miles 20 and 21 are slightly downhill along the east side of the river on the St Paul side. But my mile splits continued to slow, despite to help of gravity. This was a devastating and fatal blow to my psyche. At that point I admitted to myself that my tank was truly empty and I still had five miles to go. The next two miles (22/23) were uphill, the toughest two miles of the course. I was running on life support now. It was clear that although I was feeling better this morning than I had been the prior two days, my body had not fully recovered from my illness and I began this race with less than a full tank of gas.
There is nothing worse in a marathon, than to realize your goals are no longer achievable and yet you somehow still need to reach the finish line. All motivation is gone and the miles seem to be suspended in time. You run and run, but never seem to reach the next mile split...or so it seems. It was an ugly finish for me, but I did finish. The attached pictures are blurry because I captured still images from several video clips my son took from different locations along the course. Although they seem appropriate, as my mind was in a complete fog and my vision just as blurry. I finished with a time of 3:29:53 - 15 minutes slower than last year. My slowest marathon in 6 years. Overall, I finished 1,045 out of 8,556 finishers and 22 out of 229 finishers in my age group. It is what it is. This race fits right in with how my race season has gone this year. I have two races remaining to close the season. A 10 Mile race on October 29th and a Thanksgiving Day 5k. My optimism is always renewed as a new race approaches. But as for today, I'm just glad it's over.
Race results: http://www.mtecresults.com/runner/show?rid=2217&race=4497
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