Medtronic Twin Cities 10 Mile

I wasn't sure if last years race was going to be my last or not when I ran it.  I simply can't put my body through rigorous year round "race" training as I did in my 50's.  But this is such a great race and I still have the itch to compete. So I decided to give it another shot in 2022.  It's a lottery entry race, but for an inflated entry fee, they let you run it without needing lottery luck.  I guess money talks.  So that's what I did.  I bought my way into the race this year.  Another reason I did was because I turned 65 earlier this year, advancing into a new age group (or old depending on how you look at it 😄) men 65-69 years old.  Figured my best chance to shoot for a high placing in my new age group is now when I'm 65, not 69!

I'm still working out year round, running 15-18 miles a week, lifting weights and riding my bike.  Just enough to keep me in heart health shape.  But to run a 10 mile race I needed to get my body back into race shape as best I could at age 65. I had a race training template that I used to get myself in race shape last year and used it as a baseline for this year.  The general idea was to train more aggressively in the 3 months leading up to the race (July, August and September).  There were issues with my 3 month plan last year.  Calf and right hip related injuries slowed my training more than I had anticipated and also came into play during last years race when my left calf cramped up in mile 4.  I didn't want a repeat of those issues this year.  My goal being to run an injury free race pushing myself as hard as I can.

Training for this years race did go much better.  I successfully completed my target mileage of 35 miles per week including eight - 10 mile training runs.  One every Saturday leading up to the race.  The only thing that didn't go as hoped was my plan to incorporate more interval and tempo training into my daily 4 mile runs.  Every time I attempted to an uptempo pace, I could feel my calf muscles on the verge of cramping, or even a muscle pull or tear.  I've tried everything from diet, massage guns, stretching exercises etc. to keep my calf muscles loose, but nothing works any more at my age.  They just always stay tight as a drum no matter what I do.  As a result, my only successful uptempo runs were my 10 milers where I started slow and increased my pace each mile so by mile 10 I was running a 7:30 pace.  7:30 was my goal pace for the race this year after running a 7:48 pace last year.  But it doesn't build a great deal of confidence when you only run 1 mile at target race pace even though it was the 10th mile of each of my 10 mile training runs.  

TCM 10 Mile Course Map:

https://www.tcmevents.org/sites/default/files/2022-09/2022%2010%20MILE%20MAP.pdf

Last year I was overflowing with adrenaline and excitement heading into the race as it was my first race in over  4 years.  This years race had a more business like feel.  I was definitely excited, but also more serious about how I was going to run it.  I guess I felt more pressure to perform this year - particularly from a competitive perspective knowing this year would be my best shot (as the young kid) to place as high as possible in my new age group.  The MTC 10 Mile is a tough but fair course.  You simply can't lock into your race pace and expect to maintain it mile after mile.  You need to know what each mile brings and modify your effort to match the elevation changes to maintain your pace.  The first two miles are primarily downhill from US Bank Stadium to the Bohemian Flats on West River Parkway.  These miles include some relatively steep sections that really pound your quads as you race downhill.  It's important not to let yourself get carried away with early race excitement and run too fast through this section, or you will pay for it later.

The next three miles (3, 4 and 5) consist of slow rolling hills as you progress along the West side of the Mississippi before crossing over to the East side as you follow the river south.  It was here where my left calf cramped on me last year.  So far so good at the halfway point and my pace is in the low 7:20's - slightly better than by 7:30 goal pace.  Miles 5-7 are the toughest miles in the race.  All three miles consist of varying degrees of hill climbing with no offsetting downhill sections to give your legs a break.  This section will make or break your race.  If you haven't paced yourself properly you will potentially flame out here, leaving your tank on empty for the last three miles.  The toughest section for me is the end of mile 5 when the course turns East away from the river and begins a short but steep climb up to the U of Saint Thomas campus.  It's the steepest section of the course and it literally sucks the life out of you physically.  So it's important to stay mentally tough here knowing the next two miles are also uphill, just not as steep as you begin the long straight stretch up Summit Avenue.

 Miles 8 and 9 are technically flat, but they don't feel flat.  In fact the first half of mile 8 actually includes a slight decline.  But Summit Avenue presents a bit of an optical illusion in that you can see far ahead on the straight road and if you peer toward the horizon it looks and feels like you are always approaching another climb in the distance.  I've always found it best to keep my eyes down and focus on the section of road directly in front of me.  The good news for me was that I reached the 8.5 mile checkpoint having run these last three and a half miles at a 7:26 pace.  Just 4 seconds slower than my first 5 miles.  By the time you finally reach the mile 9 marker you are more than happy to make the big sweeping left turn at the end of Summit Avenue after running in a straight line over the past three and a half miles.  It's a welcome turn as you know you are entering the final section of the race.  

With about a half mile to go Summit Avenue turns into John Ireland Blvd by the Cathedral of St Paul.  This is my favorite part of the race as swing past the Cathedral and peer down on the final half mile towards the State Capitol.  It's mostly downhill followed by a quarter mile straightaway to the finish line.  This is where you try to open it up your stride and take advantage of the downhill again.  I did, but not as successfully as I hoped.  Although I didn't suffer any cramping this year, the calf muscles in both my legs were tight as a drum and hindered my ability to extend my strides on the downhill.  Instead, my strides were more choppy than I wanted.  I still successfully increased my pace over the final mile and a half, closing with a pace of 6:59, but just not smooth and comfortable.  But bottom line I did it!  I finished with a time of 1:13:16 with an average pace of 7:20/mile - almost 5 minutes faster than last years race.  Overall I finished 508th place among 8,473 finishers and 5th of 87 in my age group.  I had hoped to medal in my age group by finishing in the top 3, but there are some old guys like me still running their butts off and I give them all a major pat on the back for their amazing success!  The top 4 in my age group finished with times ranging from 1:08 to 1:11 which is amazing.

At any event, I'm very pleased with how my race played out for me today.  

Race Results:

 https://www.mtecresults.com/runner/show?race=14275&rid=12768    

 

         

Medtronic Twin Cities 10-Mile

 After a 4 year absence from racing, I'm back!  Well sort of.  Back for one last race.  I've continued running these past 4 years, but no more than 3 miles a day for roughly 5 days a week.  Just enough to keep me in heart health shape.  However this summer I realized that my running routine had become rather stale and unmotivated.  I needed something to make it interesting again.  So I decided to enter one last race, knowing this would be it.  My last race 4 years ago wasn't that way.  I didn't even consider the fact it might be my last.  So this race would have a very different feel.  I'd be going out on my terms.  The tricky part was I decided to enter the Medtronic Twin Cities 10-Mile on October 3rd, which is a lottery selected race.  So no guarantees that my number would be chosen.  It's one of the largest races in the state.  I wanted to run this race because it's part of Twin Cities Marathon Weekend (5k, 10k, 10 mile and marathon).  I wanted to run a popular race with a good vibe.  But I knew running a full marathon was too big a challenge for me to take at age 64 with two months to prepare.  I wanted to run a nice intermediate distance race and the 10-mile seemed a perfect fit for what I wanted to accomplish as a final race.   

I really didn't expect to be selected for this race because the number of participants were capped at a lower number than normal levels due to Covid-19.  All races were cancelled last year due to Covid-19, and with the 1 year absence I figured the number of runners applying for the race would be higher than normal too.  But on July 20th I was thrilled to receive an email confirming my official entry into the race.  Then things became real!  I had about 11 weeks to train and prepare.  It was exciting to dust off my old training and tracking records and lay out a new plan for this race knowing I hadn't completed a run of more than 3 miles since 2017.  My plan was to increase my weekday runs from 3 to 4 miles a day, with a longer run on Saturday's, starting with a 5 mile run and then adding 1 mile per week until I was running a full 10 miles.  This would give me the opportunity to run about five 10-mile runs before race day, running about 30 miles per week once my long runs were a full 10 miles.  My goal was to run the race in 1 hour and 20 minutes (an 8 minute mile pace).  This seemed realistic for me.  Slower than my other 10 mile races, but I'm older and won't have the same training foundation like the old days.  When I was still racing I ran between 35-50 miles a week depending on the distance of my next race.  So my training plan for this race was moderate in comparison as I just didn't want to injure myself and be unable to finish the race.  Injuries and other aches and pains that come with aging became the primary reason why I stopped racing 4 years ago and I didn't want injuries to mess up this last opportunity to race one more time.

Unfortunately my foolproof training plan had some holes in it.  First it was a right calf strain, then a left calf strain and finally an arthritis issue with my right hip.  All of these issues forced me to alter my training plan with unwanted rest days which lead to shorter mileage weeks than I had hoped for.  The injuries kept me from ramping up my Saturday long runs as quickly as I hoped and the injury problems tended to scream louder when I was out on a long run.  Eventually I was able to successfully heal my right calf strain and my right hip issue, but the left calf issue kept rearing it's ugly head at least once per week.  Despite all of this I eventually increased my long runs up to 10 miles and actually completed 5 of them leading up to the race as I hoped.  However only 1 of the 5 long runs were pain free.  The other 4 were all dealing with an injury issue - most notably my left calf.  So heading into my race I was not overflowing with confidence.  It seemed inevitable that at some point my left calf would seize up on me and potentially force me to back off my race pace and fall short of my time goal.  I tried every trick in the book to heal my injuries before the race, but likely the injuries need rest to heal and I didn't have that luxury with the race rapidly approaching.

Despite my discouraging injury history these past 2 months I was pumping with adrenaline leading into race day.  The race started bright at 7am, one hour before the marathon start.  Both races are run the same day and start and finish at the same locations (US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis to the State Capital in St Paul).  The 10 mile race simply takes a more direct route to get there.  What also made this race very special to me was having my entire family there to watch and cheer me on.  I wasn't expecting my wife and kids to come and bring all their young children because of the early start, but they all wanted to come watch.  I have 4 additional grandchildren since I last raced.  A total of 9 now and they were all there to watch and cheer.  I felt guilty they had to get up so early and stand along the course before sunrise just to see me run, but so thankful they did!  All went well early on.  I had no trouble settling into my race pace thanks to lots of adrenaline pumping through me.  I didn't get to train much at race pace because when I did, my injuries flared up every time.  So it wasn't a big surprise when I felt a shooting pain in my left calf in mile 4.  I stopped to massage my left calf for a few seconds before jumping back into the race.  The brief massage of course didn't help alleviate the pain as I stopped for no more than 5 seconds.  My mind was all over the place and I simply panicked in the moment.

I wasn't running comfortably at this point and was favoring my left calf with each stride.  I was praying fervently that the pain would subside or at least not get worse and force me to withdraw.  I had to finish.  My family was all there and this was my last race!  I passed my family for the 2nd time just before the 5 mile mark.  Their cheers were encouraging but also calming.  The left calf pain was intense, but not getting worse.  Over the next few miles I focused on getting my form back and not altering my stride because of my left calf.  It seemed to help get me back on race pace which was encouraging, as miles 6 and 7 were mostly uphill.  The dreaded Summit Avenue climb I remember very well from the 5 times I ran the marathon.  After the climb I was still on my race pace and felt much better about things.  With 1 mile to go I pushed myself to the finish as hard as I could.  I finish with a time of 1:17:59, roughly 2 minutes faster than my goal.  I placed 660th place out of 6,516 finishers and 17th of 128 in my age group.  It was the 10th 10-mile race I've run, but also the slowest.  The competitive side of my mind immediately began wondering how fast I could have run had I been injury free.  Just 2 minutes faster and it wouldn't have been my slowest 10 mile race.  However, I need to and am very happy that I achieved my goal and experienced that race day high one last time.  It was well worth the pain that came with it!  Now it's time to truly let this injury heal.

My race results

https://www.mtecresults.com/runner/show?race=12111&rid=12093

         

             

           

Lifetime Fitness Turkey Day 5k - November 23, 2017

The Lifetime Fitness Turkey Day 5k was my final race of the year.  I didn't run the Monster Dash 10 mile at the end of October due to bad weather.  I hate to skip races, but there is no (indoor) pre-race protection from the cold at the Monster Dash in St Paul and I knew I would be miserable by the start of the race.  I won't deny that I'm getting a bit soft in my old age and unwilling to always brave the elements like I did in my early 50's.  Yes, I feel a bit guilty skipping a race here and there because of the weather.  But if the weather is going to make the race miserable before it even starts, I likely won't run it at this stage of my life - particularly if it's a race I've previously run like Monster Dash.  I don't skip races often.  I think I've only skipped 3-4 races due to weather over the past 10 years.

This was the 3rd time I've run the Turkey Day 5k in downtown Minneapolis.  This is the perfect cold weather race because the race distance is short and they utilize Target Center as home base for the runners.  One can stay indoors to stretch and relax before heading outside to warm up and race.  If I continue to run Thanksgiving Day races, it will be this race.  The location is also great.  The race started at 8am and I was back home in my garage by 8:45am.  It was a beautiful morning for the race because the course was dry and there was virtually no wind.  It was only 24 degrees at the start of the race, but I can deal with the cold fairly well as log as the winds are calm and there's no precipitation.
 

This was my first and only 5k race this year.  The Lifetime Turkey Day is the largest Thanksgiving Day race in the Twin Cities.  With the dry and calm conditions, the race drew an extra large number of participants (over 7,000 runners).  The race is chip timed with overall and age group awards, but most of the runners are simply there to have a good time and don't take the race too seriously.  Many run the race together as a family.  With so many runners it's a little difficult to properly warm up for the race, as the streets are packed with people, leaving little space to carve out a pre-race warm-up run.

My goal today was to run a solid time, but I had no aspirations of a great time.  Late November in Minnesota is not the time of year to run great times.  If I can break 21 minutes today, I would be very happy.  Half of the 16 5k's I've run have been in the 20 minute range (plus change).  I've run just 6 5k's under 20 minutes and only 3 over 21 minutes.  I'm still dealing with 3 nagging injuries that have plagued me over the past 3 months.  My left Achilles tendon, Planter fasciitis in my right foot and discomfort in my upper right hamstring.  All 3 injuries have made it difficult to fully extend my stride - particularly in faster races like today's.  After this race I hope to fully heal these injuries by the first of the year and start 2018 training fresh and healthy.  However as I age, it is becoming more and more difficult to completely shed my body of these discomforts.  I know that if I can't heal properly, the 2016 Twin Cities Marathon will likely be my last full marathon.  To successfully run a full marathon in my 60's, I must be injury free.  If not, it's simply not worth it.     

Anyway, today's race went as well as I could have hoped for.  I finished with a time of 20:45, finishing 151st among 7,156 runners and 2nd in my age group of 146.  I also ran 2 seconds faster than my 2015 time in this race.  So now it's time to heal up in December and see where I am health wise come the first of the year. 

Turns out I actually won my age group, although the race results don't reflect this.  Got a call from the wife of the guy listed as my age group winner.  Turns out he never ran the race for some reason, but let his 29 year old son run in his place, using his BIB number.  When they received the first place award in the mail based on his son's time, she looked me up and called to apologize.  Said they had no idea there were age group awards in this race, or never would have allowed their son to run with dad's BIB number.  She then sent me the first place award via mail with a note, stating that I now have a story to tell. 

Finish Video:

Race Results:
https://www.athlinks.com/event/19140/results/Event/687108/Course/1110435/Bib/1152