Category Archives: USATF

Race Review: Human Race 8K

Awhile back I registered for my first Minnesota race – the Human Race 8K, which is part of the USATF Series. The race was also featured at Down the Backstretch – which is a well-known and respected running blog in Minnesota. Here is DtB’s recap and a link to photos.

The race was efficiently run from the beginning. There was a variety of options for registration and I chose using active.com which allowed me to enter my USATF # (and receive the discount) and get everything done pretty quickly. The event was put on by TSL Events (The Sporting Life Events) and hosted at the University of St Thomas in Saint Paul which is a pretty campus.

Packet pick-up was pretty smooth for me – pick up your chip and number and then go get your shirt. You had a variety of options when you registered and could actually choose not to get a shirt – which I kinda wish I hadn’t. I selected a short-sleeve wicking shirt – hoping for a really nice technical shirt. Instead I got a nicely designed “wicking” shirt that almost feels like a t-shirt. It claims to be 100% polyester, but definitely doesn’t feel like my other technical shirts. Oh well, its bright green!

I warmed up with Team MDRA and had a good warm-up and got some advice for running the course. It was a nice course along Summit Ave in St. Paul. You may have heard of Summit Ave because it is also the last stretch of the Twin Cities Marathon and maybe the hardest because of its long uphill. Since this was an out-and-back course the uphill was fine on the return when it was actually a downhill! The course is actually an overall negative course with the finish line actually below the starting line. My Garmin said we lost 29 feet of elevation throughout the course.

The race was won in 24:06 (4:50). My overall time was 31:27, my watch said 31:24 but it was chip-timed so I’ll go with that! My goal was 32 minutes – which I extrapolated from my 10K goal of breaking 40 minutes.

I tried to start out at a decently easy pace since the first mile was mostly uphill. We gained about 50 feet of elevation within the mile. It was hard to let people go by me, but I also knew that I needed to be smart. I saw a couple of the MDRA guys within striking distance and just hung on with them. I thought I crossed the first mile in 6:30, but my watch actually said 6:20. I think if I had known that I might have freaked a little so it was ok! We basically just ran along tree lined streets for the whole race. We ran out did a little loop and ran straight back. Nothing too exciting in the second mile, I tried to stay focused on the MDRA runners ahead of me and maintaining an even pace. I actually passed one of the MDRA guys somewhere near here and I just kept pushing on. My second mile was 6:12, thanks in part to some downhill! I tried to keep it even since I knew we’d have the hill coming back up!

During the third mile we made the loop around a law school and headed for home. We did have some uphill here but I kept forging ahead. I grabbed a quick sip of water at the water stop and still ran a 6:25 mile. For the next mile I could have sworn I ran a lot slower, I was doing mental math trying to figure out what I needed to run the next mile to stay under 6:30 overall pace. I was way off!! I think, that I thought I had just run a 7 minute mile because I came through 4 miles at 25:30 and somehow I thought that was back at 6:30 pace but I was actually still 30 seconds ahead. Or something like that… I don’t know – I’m confusing myself trying to remember what was happening out there!

From about 2.5 to 4 was almost all uphill not very steep but just enough to make you dig in and work a little bit. I came through the 4th mile at 6:34. With the downhill finish I tried to give it everything I had… I worked hard running it out and with about a quarter to go I dropped the hammer. My final .99 miles was 5:51 which is a 5:54 pace. Looking at my Garmin’s pace chart I dropped from a 6:03 pace to a 4:31 pace in the final quarter of the race. Going geeky with the Garmin that is a 76 second last quarter!

The finish was great because we lost about 100 feet of elevation during the last mile which really helped me run a 5:51 0.99 which is a 5:54 actual mile pace. I also laid out a killer kick knocking off at least 5 guys in the last hundred meters or so.

I had a great race, it was fun and a nice atmosphere. It is a different league up here though than running around Anderson. Especially races in the USATF Circuit are going to be hard to pick up any hardware, but I might have to try and find some obscure races in the middle of nowhere to even place in my age group!

It was a beautiful day for racing! The full results are posted here. I finished 139th overall out of 1,033. I got 32 out of 83 in my age division!

UPDATE: Team MDRA placed 6th out of 10 Male USATF Teams and our female counterparts Team Unattached placed 5th out of 8.

[tags] 8k, Road Race, Human Race [/tags]

USATF – Ongoing Stretch Study

USA Track and Field is in the middle of a very large study on the impact of stretching before you run and running-related injuries.

From their background information:

Many studies have been conducted to understand the impact of stretching or warm-ups on the risk of injury, but with conflicting results. A broad review of “stretching” has not conclusively determined whether a pre-run static stretch protects runners from injury during their routine training.

After reading through the research aka protocol I decided to join the study. The study is focused on three major muscle groups – calves/Achilles, hamstrings, and quadriceps. Volunteers who meet their criteria – any person over 13 who runs 10 miles a week, hasn’t had an injury which prevented running for more than 3 days, is planning on running for the next 3 months, and who is willing to commit to either stretching before running or not stretching before running. The last part may sound kinda logical but there are some who

believe that [pre-run] stretching is important for you to prevent injuries, [if that is you] then you should not volunteer for the Study. If you do not stretch before you run and you believe that stretching before running will increase the possibility of injuring yourself, then you should not volunteer for the Study.

The sign-up process is pretty painless, I think it was 13 simple questions about major health-related issues, your weekly mileage, and a few questions about chronic injuries.

The study process is fairly simple. If you are assigned to stretch, then you stretch. If you are assigned not to stretch, then you don’t stretch the 3 muscle groups. Either way you are allowed to continue with other normal stretching routines before, during or after running. To ensure everyone stretches in a similar manner they have created a how to stretch page to make sure your stretch properly. After the three months you file a report which contains 2 questions – I did or did not get injured during this study and I stretched x% of the time before running. If at any point during the study you get injured which is defined as not being able to run for 3 consecutive days – you file an injury report 3 weeks after the injury occurred.

The study began in April of 2007 and will continue until the maximum size of 10,000 is reached or they produce a statistically significant result.

Be sure to click on over and do your part to help the running community better understand injury prevention!

[tags] USATF, Research, Stretch Study, Stretching [/tags]

USATF – Minnesota Member

I’m a card carrying member of the USATF now. Well at least once I get the card in the mail!!

I had never thought about being a member of the USATF until now since I’m not fast enough to be in the track and field circuit and don’t really need another distraction.

So Why Sign-up?

I was prompted to sign up by one of the MDRA members to be a part of their racing team – Bad News Bears. The main purpose for signing up is to be a part of the Team Circuit. The circuit is a series of “championship” races where teams are scored cross-country style. The race distances go from 1 mile all the way up to a 25K (15.5 miles). The half-marathon I’m racing is part of the circuit and so are other local races hosted by the MDRA – so why not! It is $30 a year to be a member but there are some good benefits.

Benefits

I have actually already used one – discounts at races! I just saved $5 when I signed up for an upcoming 8K. There is a long list of discounted items, many of which I’ll never use. However, if you travel for a lot of races there are discounts for rental cars and hotels. There are discounts on running gear, other merchandise, magazine subscriptions, books and movies, and running stores. You also get a membership decal and a copy of the Fast Forward magazine. I think you could easily “earn back” your $30 membership if you were planning on getting some of discounted items! I’m also supposed to get a team jersey which must be worn during all races I’m competing in as part of the team!

You should see if there are any local USATF chapters or competitions to be a part of.

[tags] USATF, Minnesota, MDRA [/tags]

Huck-a-Marathon

Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee is also in the running for a marathon. The 112th running of the Boston Marathon to be exact. This is not his first marathon – he and his wife Janet ran the Little Rock Marathon and the Marine Corps Marathon in 2005. Mike finished in 4:39 and 4:37 respectively, and his wife finished in 7:40 and 7:07. In 2006 Mike ran the New York City Marathon in 5:33. He didn’t run any in 2007 or 2008 yet. (Results provided by MarathonGuide.com)

The Washington Post reported in 2005 that Huckabee passed on a Presidential Invitation for the Inauguration parade to go on a training run. That’s a little over the top maybe? Huckabee was also named “Athlete of the Week” by the USATF in the same year. Running’s governing body says the running governor inspired a 30% increase in marathon participation. Huckabee lost 110 pounds and went from the couch to 5K to Marathon in two years!

Huckabee is entering the Boston Marathon on a Charity Waiver provided through Team Hoyt Racing. (source)

Photo Credit

[tags] Huckabee, Marathon, Mike Huckabee, Boston Marathon [/tags]

Olympic Trials: Triumph and Tragedy

In an amazing performance early Saturday morning, Ryan Hall shattered the Olympic Marathon Trials record in an amazing 6 mile breakaway to finish in 2:09:02 (4:55).  He finished over 2 minutes ahead of his soon to be teammate Dathan Ritzenhein who broke away and finished in 2:11:07 (5:00).  Third place was captured by Brooks-Hanson standout Brian Sells who finished in 2:11:40 (5:01).  Khalid Khannouchi was able to hang on to fourth place and will the alternate for the US Olympic Marathon team going into the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

What should have been a day of celebration for US Distance Running and young American athletes, was also a day of mourning the loss of a friend.  Ryan Shay collapsed on the course at about 5 1/2 miles into the race.  According to various reports spectators quickly administered CPR and the EMT’s arrived quickly, but he was pronounced dead upon arrival to the hospital.  Our hearts go out to his wife of 4 months, his family, and friends which includes Ryan Hall.  Officials are still unsure of what actually caused him to collapse and we’ll likely not know for at least a week according to ESPN.  You can read Shay’s pre-race bio here.

Indiana Connections

Kyle Baker was a graduate of Highland High School, he ran a 2:31:37 (5:47) on Saturday placing 94th.  Kyle, 31, now lives in Grand Rapids, MI. Kyle qualified for the trials during last October’s Twin Cities Marathon running a 2:21:02. Baker has earned accolades as Michigan Runner’s Male Runner of the Year in 2003 and 2002 not to mention an impressive collegiate resume which includes several All-American and Big-Ten titles.  Baker was also profiled in a December 2002 issue of Running Times.

Cecil Franke, 39 from Dublin Indiana, competed in the trials and ran a 2:25:01 (5:32) placing 67th.  Cecil ran a 2:20:43 at this spring’s Boston Marathon but used his 2006 Columbus Marathon winning time of 2:18:13 to qualify for the Trials. Franke is a high school Cross Country coach at Centerville High School.  Last year in addition to his Columbus Marathon win, he also won and set a course record in Cincinnati’s Flying Pig Marathon.

Ryan Shay ran for Notre Dame and was from Michigan.

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