Category Archives: My Running

Race Review: Karate Kickin’ Cancer 5K

2 Replies

Low key races can be a lot of fun. I have run some low-key races before but this was definitely the most low key. Actually, unwittingly I raced in the t-shirt from the CdLS race linked above!

I received an e-mail mid-week inviting me to run a 13-14 mile loop with some of the guys that would be followed by this 5K. The 5K was in memory of one of Mark’s Uncle who passed away earlier this year due to brain cancer. The training schedule called for 5 miles on Saturday and 11 on Sunday so I knew that either way the early morning run was out of the question, but with nothing better to do on a Saturday morning while my wife recovered from pulling a double at work I opted to go to North St Paul and do the Karate Kickin’ Cancer 5K.

I arrived really early on accident and took a leisurely stroll along the Gateway Trail where the race would be held. The race was sponsored by the Unified Martial Arts Academy. Owner Cory is the son of Roger who passed away on April 20. This was the third annual event with previous years being more of a fun event for the kids and families of the Academy. This year’s focus was on remembering Roger and raising money for cancer research (we now have mesothelioma explained thanks to the same kind of research done). They did that part exceptionally well raising $9,640 for the HealthEast Foundation in Saint Paul.

It was an interesting approach with no set entry fee, t-shirts only if you pre-registered, no race numbers, no official timing, but water available at the turn around and finish line. The course left the Academy parking lot and went to the Gateway Trail then proceeded out about 1.5 miles before turning around and coming back to the parking lot. The start/finish lines were in the same place.

The first mile had some turns and narrow pathways at the beginning. There were a lot of kids at the start doing their all out sprint and then petering out. They quickly faded after we hit the trail in the first tenth of a mile or so. The walkers were allowed to start walking any time that they wanted so there were already a lot of walkers on the course when we started and we had to wind our way through them. We had two road crossings in the first 1/4 or so without anyone stopping traffic, luckily it wasn’t a problem for me. The pack quickly split apart with a group of 3 then another guy and then me. It pretty much stayed this way the whole race! I came through the mile in a comfortable 6:29.

The trail is pretty flat but there was one bridge in this part that had a pretty noticeable hill but then had a downhill which is nice too! The first half of this mile was downhill to the turn around. The turn around was a water stop and a clown standing in the middle of the road. The guy in front of me took water, so I opted not to – gaining a few seconds on him! So the second half mile was uphill but it was pretty gradual, except for the bridge crossing. I slowed down, despite trying to catch the guy in front of me, running a 6:47 mile.

The last mile was nothing exceptional. I still managed to get by both road crossings without having to stop for traffic. At some point I started hearing footsteps behind me and was pretty determined not to get passed at this point in the race. I tried to keep picking up the pace and slowly drew the other guy in. When we got off the trail the guy in front of me decided to take some shortcuts through a parking lot back to Frontage Rd. I made the quick decision to follow him, I was more eager to beat him instead of getting the “accurate” course. I did catch him as we leaped a gravel median and sprinted to the finish. My GPS said it was 0.91 miles in 5:54 which is 6:28 pace.

So my total run of 2.91 was in 19:11. This was slower than last week but it wasn’t a track and I still trained hard all week!

Overall this was fun. I got 4th place overall, but there aren’t any awards or anything. There was a picture taker at the finish line so we’ll see if I can find the pictures later!

[tags] 5K, Race Review, Karate, Cancer [/tags]

Marathon Training: Week 2

Leave a reply

This was a pretty good week for training. Only a few of the days were really humid and a gorgeous weekend! On Tuesday and Thursday I threw in a couple of accelerations after the run and then did push-ups, sit-ups, and a back exercise to build up some core strength.

Monday: Do some cross-training, but only at a very easy level. Well since I bike commute to work I could have just used that as my cross-training but I didn’t really like that idea too much. I decided awhile back that I would try to avoid the elliptical machine as much as possible, so that really only left swimming. I’m not a really good swimmer so this has been something I’ve had to work on and I haven’t done any swimming since January! But I dutifully went to the gym and swam for awhile. I’ve found that if I slow down I can actually breathe properly, which makes it a little more fun. I lost track of how many laps I’d actually swam so I just called it 500 meters yards. I used mostly freestyle and backstroke and then sat in the hot tub for a little bit. It felt pretty good overall.

Tuesday: 3 miles at a comfortable pace. It was 57 and sunny for my easy 3 miler around Powderhorn Park. I’m still trying to figure out the best way to run through the park and get an accurate 3 mile course, the park has a perimeter trail and then some inner trails too. I knew the distance was going by quickly while on an inner loop and took off straight up the hill to get to the outer trail. I ran the 3 miles in 24:17.

Wednesday: Five miles today. It was 59 and humid for this out and back run along the Greenway. This is the run where I am allowed to pick-up the pace if I want to. Last week I through in a mile at an increased tempo but this week I just ran the 5 miles. It felt pretty good and I tried to just stay at a steady pace and ran a 38:15. The legs still felt tired but that’s ok!

Thursday: 3 miles at a comfortable pace This morning’s run felt very sluggish. It was 62 which was nice except that it was 93% humidity which never feels that good! I ran the downtown loop in 23:34. The bike trail leaving downtown was fairly full, a lot of people walking and of course lots of bike commuters!

Friday: A day of rest. This still feels weird to not run on Fridays. My body clock gets me up at the same time anyway so I got up and did some chores around the house – my wife works the night shift so I can be pretty loud at 6:30am if I want! I did cheat a little bit as we rode our bikes downtown for the Minnesota Bike Festival race. It was a lot of fun to watch! It was only 5 miles at a very relaxed speed so I’m not too worried about it!

Saturday: Run 5 miles. I did another 5K today. This was very low-key. I got fourth and ran a 19:11 for 2.91 miles according to my GPS. I did a little warm-up so I did actually get 5 miles in. I’m being careful and probably won’t race for awhile. Read the race review tomorrow for all the gritty details!

Sunday: 11 miles. It was pretty much a perfect day for a long run. It was 59 when I left and like 62 when I go home. I did run 11 miles along the Greenway and then down the West River Parkway. Sadly it was an out-and-back. I played with some different routes on the computer to see if I could make this run a loop but it ended up being too far. Although it kind of became a loop course during the run – let me explain. There is the paved trail on the road and then in some places – pretty much the length of the course today there is a dirt or really messed up paved trail that is farther down the cliff towards the river. In some places it is really nice and others it is just a dirt single-track. This also added a more rolling hill effect to the run which was good. It was near perfect for getting off the pavement. Running to and from the river was in the sun which made it pretty warm but all along the river it was shaded and almost cool. I did the 11 mile run in 1:34:12 which is 8:33 pace. My slowest mile was 9:38 for mile 9 and my fastest was 7:40 for mile 2. By the end of the run I was pretty wiped out – having biked 20 miles on Saturday didn’t help. I think for my long runs now on I’ll need to make sure to carry or drop water and start looking at using my Clif Shot Bloks.

Weekly Mileage Totals:

Running – 26.9 miles, this is actually a drop from last week. Though last week I ran on my cross-training day!

Biking – 67 miles. Most of these are at a fairly easy pace. I bike commute 8 miles round-trip at about 15mph but when I ride with my wife (who will be at 50 miles for the week) we ride more like 10-12 mph average.

Swimming – 500 yards.

Hals’ Tip of the Week: Easy days are as important in your training plan as hard days. You won’t get the full benefits of the progressive long-run buildup on the weekends, unless you rest before and after. Resting on Fridays and Mondays allows you to run harder on Saturdays and Sundays, when you will have more time for your workouts. The marathon is 17 weeks away, but your success depends on the steady base that you are building now.

Week 2

[tag] Marathon, Training, Hal Higdon [/tags]

Race Review: USATF-MN 5000m Championships

4 Replies

This Sunday race is part of the USATF-MN Team Circuit and was also part of a bigger USATF-MN Championship track meet. This would be the first time I’ve raced on a track since I graduated from college in 2003. It brought back a flood of memories from the tons of track meets that I competed in during junior high, high school, and college. It was in the low 60’s but with pretty high humidity the weather wasn’t exactly perfect for a race. The race was held at Hamline University’s Klas Field. The 9-lane mondo track was well used the weekend as the MSHSL Championships (Minnesota State High School League) were held there over the weekend.

We did a warm-up and then sat around and waited. The officials weren’t really in too much of a hurry and the meet was behind schedule pretty much from the beginning. It opened with a 5K race walk with 2 competitors before the women’s 5K and then the Men’s Master’s 5k. The Men’s Open 5K was next followed by a 3 person heat of the 100m hurdles and then the 1500.

One highlight of the meet was that Carrie Tollefson competed in the 1500 trying to get her Olympic “A” standard. She need a 4:10 but ran a 4:19 – still an impressive showing. She had a rabbit pull her through 800 meters and then was left to finish by herself. There was a slight headwind on the homestretch. It was fun to watch her run and then to see her wait around to congratulate the rest of the runners! A couple of her Team USA – Minnesota teammates were there to cheer her on.

Back to my race! I went in with no expectations having done no speed work in a long time and having done a 10-miler the day before. I knew I was going to get lapped several times since my PR is 18 and change. But my team needed me to compete so that we could score – so I took one for the team!

I did some math and decided that I would try and run 90 second quarters which is a 6:02 pace and would translate to a 18:44 5K. So I thought I would try that and hopefully break 19 minutes. Sadly that didn’t happen. I was proud of myself for showing great restraint and not pushing the first quarter too hard. I was pretty much on pace through the first half of the race so that was good. A runner from the Slab City racing team came by and asked what I was hoping to run and said that is what he was planning. He offered to trade laps which sounded good with the slight headwind. It was 2 laps in when he went by so I sat behind him for 2 laps and then went around him, but he came back by after another lap and pulled away. I had started to drop the pace slightly by that point but only a second or two a lap!

Here are my 400 splits:

  1. 1:23
  2. 1:31
  3. 1:31
  4. 1:32 – 5:58 mile
  5. 1:32
  6. 1:34
  7. 1:39
  8. 1:42 – 12:27 through 2 miles (6:29 mile)
  9. 1:39
  10. 1:42
  11. 1:42
  12. 1:35 – 19:08 through 3 miles (6:38 mile)
  13. 0:43 – last 200

If you aren’t familiar with a 5K on the track you start at the 200 meter mark and then run 12.5 laps. Each person/team or coach does the counting differently. Some people take the 200 off the beginning so that each mile is calculated at the finish line, while others do it the way I did and count it at the end. It was a little easier that way since they were calling out the time at the 200 mark.

Not a lot to report since it was round and round ya go! They didn’t have any water available which didn’t surprise me too much. It was an $8 entry and all I have to show for it is a plain bib! Some of the other guys got awards and some of the women’s team did too.

It was a good day all in all. Don’t think I would do it again unless I had done more specific training.

[tags] USATF-MN, 5000m Championships, Hamline [/tags]

Marathon Training Week 1

3 Replies

This will be my first marathon. I am training for the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon on October 5, 2008.

I had planned on using a training program from Running Planet designed specifically for the 3:10 goal time. It was a highly structured program that included goal times for each workout and lots of specific training geared towards that time. I decided that for my first marathon I should try to enjoy myself at least a little bit and not get burnt out during training. So I looked into some other plans!

I have decided on Hal Higdon’s Intermediate II program. Hal’s website is pretty adamant that first time marathoners (even for experienced athletes at other distances) should use his novice plan. Well I disagree! I think the Intermediate II is a good program that will provide adequate mileage and a mix of harder runs to accommodate my needs. I might adjust it as time goes on adding more speed work if I feel up to it. It will be a little different than I am used to since most of my races and thus long runs have been on Saturdays, now they will be on Sundays. I plan to continue bike commuting through most of my training time. So we’ll see how it goes! My goal is still a 3:10 BQ which is a 7:14 pace.

It was supposed to rain or storm pretty much every day this week, so you will notice a common thread of high humidity throughout the week. I think the lowest was in the 70% range. Here’s the week’s summary:

Monday: Comparative Rest (cross-train 30 minutes) It seemed a little wrong to start marathon training with a day of cross training so I did an easy 3 miles. I know my first act of training was the break from the schedule! Oh well. 3 miles in 23:18 on the Little Earth loop. It was 63 degrees and humid at the start.

Tuesday: Run 3 miles at a comfortable pace. Today’s loop ended up being closer to 3.5 miles in 27:33. I ran down to Powderhorn Park, around the lake and back enjoying the cool 57 degree weather, despite the high humidity.

Wednesday: Five miles. This is the “mid-week longer run”. I’m not sure I’ve called a 5 miler long outside of track when we were competing in the 800, but oh well. I ran this along the Greenway in 37:35. We are allowed to pick up the pace on this run so I ran one of the miles at what felt like a faster pace, it was actually 6:56 so that is faster than marathon pace. It was 55 and humid again.

Thursday: 3 miles, comfortable pace. Follow the run by doing some stretching and strength training for about 15-30 minutes. I did the Downtown Loop this morning which is 3 miles in 23:45. It was 61 with 88% humidity at the start! It felt pretty good. I stretch after ever run but did push-ups, sit-ups, and back exercises today and Tuesday.

Friday: Rest It is a little weird to have Friday as a rest day. I was contemplating going to the gym to do some stretching when I remembered that I still had a massage to redeem from the gym. I had bought a couple of 30 minute sessions awhile back for my wife and I but we’d never used them. So I got a 30 minute massage focused on my lower back and legs. It felt really good and probably will become a somewhat regular part of my routine.

Saturday: Five miles at marathon pace. Hear I go messing up the schedule already again! I have a 5K on Sunday so I switched the two workouts. Hal is ok with this although he really prefers that the long run follows the pace run, but such is life! I did 10 miles along the Mississippi River on some unexplored parts of the city thanks to twitter friend AEnglesrud who gave me the route idea. It was a lot of fun! I did it in 1:21:59, incorporated some hills and it was a nice morning with starting temps at 65 with 85% humidity. I felt pretty good throughout the run but I hadn’t completely mapped it out so I ended up hitting 10 miles over a mile from home – so I just stopped and walked home!

Sunday: Run 10 miles. I ran a 19:51 5K on the track as part of the USATF-MN Outdoor Championship track meet. Look for the full review tomorrow! But it totaled about 5 miles total. Another cool but humid day.

Weekly Totals:

Running – 29.6 miles

Biking – 40 miles

Hal’s Running Tip of the Week: With the marathon 18 weeks away, plan the training now that will permit you success. Marathon training works best if you start easy and build gradually: A long run of 10 miles in June becomes 20 miles in September. Most important at this time is to establish a goal, whether that goal is to finish or to run fast. Once that goal is chosen, everything else will fall in place.

Week 1

[tags] Marathon, Training, Hal Higdon [/tags]

Running Status

3 Replies

As I begin Marathon Training this week I thought I would take a look back at what has happened with my running since the end of my Half Marathon Training. I spent 12 weeks training for the Earth Day Half Marathon at the end of April. Since then my running has been lackluster and lackadaisical.

Happily it wasn’t all lacking because I did get some mileage and races in during the last month. After the race I took 5 whole days off physical activity to let my body recoup. My XC coach suggested taking 2 weeks off (which you can do without losing any aerobic capacity). It was a little tricky since I had several races to compete in for the USATF Team Circuit.

So I ran an easy 3 miler to make sure everything worked well and then ran the Get in Gear 10K and almost PRed on a horrible weather day! Since then I’ve run at least 4-5 times a week mostly easy low mileage runs. I threw in another race – this time the TC 1 Miler! It was a fun event with pretty much perfect conditions.

During the past month I added in cycling. As the weather has gotten warmer I brought the bike out of storage and started using it instead of the bus to commute to work each day. It has been a good adventure thus far – a flat tire while at a conference in St Paul, busting a rim on a pot-hole right after getting a tune-up, and subsequently upgrading several components for a better ride! I’ve biked for a grand total of 108 miles on 11 occasions.

The trick has been adding the 8 mile round trip bike commute into my regular running schedule. This has been some of the reason for the lower mileage but also wanting to keep the intensity and duration lower. For the 6 weeks I’ve run 72.55 miles on 18 occasions.

Weekly Mileage Summary: (my weeks end on Sunday currently)

  • Week Ending April 27 – 9.2 miles (10K race included)
  • Week Ending May 4 – 7 miles and 4 bike
  • Week Ending May 11 – 10.6 miles and 21.6 bike
  • Week Ending May 18 – 10.5 miles and 38.6 bike
  • Week Ending May 25 – 17.3 miles (bike in the shop 🙁 )
  • Week Ending June 1 – 18 miles and 44 bike

So that’s what I’ve been up to running-wise! Like I said nothing too exciting, but I am looking forward to starting marathon training – should be fun!