September 22, 2018: The Wingfoot Cross-Country Classic 5K

Although the weather has remained warm, my running has improved over the past week.  The speed workout in Tuesday evening went better than any of the earlier speed runs in this cycle, as I ran the prescribed paces without too much trouble.  Thursday evening I ran on a nice new route through Decatur with the Big Peach Running Company, taking the route a little faster than expected, but knocking out 5 miles at a 10:01 min / mile overall pace, thanks to speeding up for a 9:20 minute final mile. 

I ran the Wingfoot Cross Country 5K a couple of years ago, when it was a morning race under pleasantly cool conditions.  Last year, the Atlanta Track Club turned the event into an all-day cross-country meet, concluding in the evening with a Community 5K.  I missed this race, as Bonnie and I were on a weekend trip to New York City for her high school class reunion.  After my difficulty in the Monday Nighter 10K in June, a hot evening race, I wasn't looking forward to another warm evening race.  But I've completed all of the Atlanta Track Club Grand Prix events to this point in the year, and with today's race and the 10-Miler in late October, I'll get a little award for completing all of the races in the series.  

Bonnie and I drove up to Cartersville, arriving about 2 hours before the start of the race, plenty of time for me to get in 7 easy miles before the 5K race.  Even though the temperature was 90 deg F, I felt fine throughout the run, thanks to hydrating throughout the day, and bringing plenty of water on the run.  I found a nicely shaded gravel trail around Dellinger Park for the middle part of the mileage.  At one point I came across a group of 8 - 9 deer.  I tried to run quietly and smoothly past but most of the deer bounded into the safety of the trees, except for a young buck that stared me down, as I ran past taking care to remain on the gravel path, and staying off his turf!  

Sizing up the competition? 

By the time that I checked in to pick up my bib, my clothes were soaked with sweat, and my legs were a little sore.  I spent most of the minutes before the race with dynamic stretches, trying to work out the soreness before the start of the race.  I lined up on the far right side of the starting line arc.  The sun was dropping toward the horizon as the time drew near for the 7:30 pm start.  I had told people that I was taking it easy, trying for a progression run, etc., but when the starter's gun sounded:

 (Link to video for course preview) 

Coach Carl's recommendation

I began to run madly across the field.  However the field wasn't completely even, and so I decided to slow down a little, to ensure that I didn't take a bad step on the crushed corn stalks covering the ground.  Nonetheless near the bottom of the field, I took a quick look at my watch: 7:06 min / mile pace.  Oh well, I felt really good and strong, and decided to keep pushing forward.  Might I run a 23 minute 5K this evening?  Let's see.  I started passing people as we ran the lanes criss-crossing the field.  Shortly before the 1-mile mark, we bounded across three rows of hay bales - no problem.  Bonnie called out and I gave her a smile and a thumbs up, as I accelerated past a few more runners.  I reached a timing mat at mile 1 at 8:00 even.  

I was still racing across the field, feeling strong and fast, until about 11 minutes in, when the cumulative fatigue of 8 miles for the evening finally caught up to me.  I felt myself slow down, as a few people that I had passed a moment before caught up to me.  Oh well, this is a learning experience, no harm done, just don't do this in the marathon 6 weeks from now.  Nonetheless I didn't let myself take a walk break, I kept pushing as best as I could.  Crossing the timing mat for mile 2 at 17:00 even, I realized that I had really slowed down!  

As the hay bales came into sight, I heard Bonnie call out again.  "Gotta look good for Bonnie" I thought as I smoothly leaped over the hay bales, channelling the graceful running of the deer that I had seen earlier in the evening.  (On the video that Bonnie took, I don't look as graceful as I had felt.)  

About 21 minutes in, I started to push myself to speed up a bit, but I couldn't maintain speed for more than a minute, dropping back down.  Then the band began playing "What a Wonderful World" and I started to speed up again.  The finish line must be coming soon, I thought, then a volunteer called out "Only 400 meters to go!"  That was at least 300 meters more than I had expected, and I found myself slowing again.  As I passed the 3 mile marker at 26:40, the band switched to ZZ Top's 70's hit "La Grange".  Now I could see the finish line, and I forced myself to speed up, even though we were going uphill.  Finish time: 27:42, just under a 9 min / mile pace overall.  

I was parched and completely out of breath, but after a bottle of water, a bottle of Powerade, and most of a barbecue chicken sandwich, I had recovered.  Unfortunately my legs were really sore from the effort and tightened up on the hour-drive home.  Nonetheless, the event was a lot of fun and definitely worth the drive.  Although I didn't run the race very strategically, it felt good to push myself in a race, after a long summer of overly cautious running.  

Featuring Tucker Running Club members Becky Caldwell and Linda Bode Phinney,
and a barbecue chicken sandwich in my right hand! 

Another McDonald won this race!

September 8, 2018: Pacing the Craft Classic Half Marathon

At the ATL 20K a couple of weeks ago, I was encouraged to volunteer as a pacer for the Craft Classic Half Marathon.  I ran the race last year, and had considered repeating this year.  However, the marathon training schedule for this weekend was originally a "drop-back" week, 8 - 10 miles.  However, after I decided not to "race" the Big Peach Sizzler 10K on Labor Day, and discussed this with Coach Carl, he encouraged me to go ahead and pace as a medium long run.  I volunteered for the 2:30 pace group.  That was 30 minutes slower than my finishing time last year (nearly a new PR at that time), yet the pace would be fast enough to be a good training run and not so slow that I would get bored.  

I've been curious about pacing, and have seen it done well on several occasions.  I owe my 10K PR from the 2017 Big Peach Sizzler to a great 50 minute pace group.  And my half-marathon PR at the 2017 Jeff Galloway race was also aided by the 2:00 hour pace group: they helped me hold back for the first few miles, saving enough energy to run a negative split race and to a dramatic 3-minute improvement on my previous best.  The night before, I printed out a pace chart at an 11:25 min / mile pace, which would get me to the finish line 20 seconds ahead of time.  Last year the Craft Classic course felt a little long, but the start and end sections would be different this year.  Anyway I figured that gave me enough flexibility to speed up a little if needed near the end, and would work out fine if the course was an accurate 13.1 mile distance. 

7:30 am start, 2:30 finish, equals
80 deg F at the end of the race.

When we arrived at Grant Park around 6 am, it was already warm and humid.  As I didn't need any extra miles, I restricted my warmup to dynamic stretching.  Sonia Watson, the other 2:30 pacer, and I found our places evenly staggered from the start line, with 1:45, 2:00, and 2:15 pacers in front of us.  Sonia and I shared our plan with the runners around us, 2 minute run with 30 second walk intervals, and walking through the water stations.  I encouraged everyone around us to hydrate at every water stop.  After the National Anthem concluded at 7:30 am, the crowd began to move forward.  We crossed the starting mat about 30 seconds after the gun start.  Sonia and I settled into an easy jog, and when my watch sounded at 2 minutes in, I called "Walk break!" and raised my hand.  30 seconds later, "Let's go!" and we resumed running in a loop around the northern half of the park.  At first we were running about a 12:00 min / mile pace, but gradually sped up to finish the first mile in 11:12.  We were well into the second mile before we left the park, heading through the Summerhill neighborhood.  Some of the early water stops were crowded, and so I relied on the Nuun bottle that I was carrying for my own hydration, letting the other runners patronize the water stops. 

With pacer partner Sonia Watson.
Photos taken shortly before sunrise. 

A few Tucker Running Club members ran this morning,
including Lindy Liu (2:45 pacer) and Leigh Chestnutt (3:00 pacer)

The benefit of running through the park for the first mile-plus shortened the amount of time we spent in the middle lane of busy Decatur Street, after which we headed into the Inman Park neighborhood.  We were right on pace at mile 2, and about 10 seconds ahead of pace at mile 3 and 4.  Somehow we slowed down a bit on the Freedom Parkway pathway, even though mile 5 was level or slightly downhill, falling behind by 20 seconds.  I tried to push through mile 6 on the level part of Highland Avenue, but lost another 5 seconds.  Mile 7, on Virginia Avenue, was the last downhill mile before reaching the Eastside Beltline.  We shaved about 10 seconds off our time, being 15 seconds behind pace as we began running southbound on the Beltline.  At this point, Sonia and I became separated, as I kept pushing to avoid losing any more time, even though we were running a gradual but steady uphill.  I would turn around and call back with each walk break and run resumption, but it seemed that Sonia's group was falling a little further behind.  Was I going too fast?  At mile 8, crossing Ralph McGill Blvd, I was still 20 seconds behind.  I suppose that I was exactly on pace if we eliminated the 20 second cushion that I had planned with the pace band.  A few people were running with me, and I assured them that I was close to the pace, even with my run-walk intervals.  

Elevation profile for this race

Crossing Irwin Street at the 9 mile mark, I took a cup of Gatorade at the water station, and noted with satisfaction that I was now less than 5 seconds behind the desired pace.  Approaching the southern terminus of the Beltline, the route up the ramp was not marked, but I called out with authority "Up the ramp!"  I just hoped that I was right about that!  I looked back onto the Beltline as I headed up to Edgewood Avenue, and didn't see Sonia at all.  Fortunately I saw a sign at the top of the ramp directing us to turn right onto Edgewood.  Whew!! 

The route was well-marked the rest of the way.  I didn't intend to speed up, but having sped up a bit to get on track with the plan on the Beltline, I was now running ahead of pace, reaching mile 10 nearly 25 seconds ahead of schedule.  Hmm, how did that happen? I had been regularly informing the runners around me approximately how many seconds behind pace in the early miles, and now apologizing for being a little ahead of pace.  I tried to encourage everyone, "If you finish with me, you'll definitely break 2:30; if you're behind me but can see me, you'll probably finish right around 2:30."  The runners around me didn't complain, and a few were following my run-walk intervals.  I tried to take it easy, but at mile 11, I was 40 seconds ahead.  Even so, I was feeling the temperature, and just trying to stay strong and enthusiastic for the runners around me.  I continued to hold my pace stick above my head with the number clearly visible from behind.  

The beginning and the end of the race,
along with the elevation profile

Re-entering the park, I spotted the mile 12 marker, still 40 seconds ahead.  What to do?  Last year the route was long and it took me a full minute longer to finish based on my Garmin.  The thirteenth mile was a big struggle.  A substantial uphill section that forced me to take a walk break 30 seconds earlier than planned.  I hated to give in, but I just couldn't push up the hill without the break.  I was out of Nuun and was feeling parched.  To my shock, the mile 13 sign came up after just over 9 minutes of running, even though my watch indicated I had slowed to a 11:45 min / mile pace for that section.  At 2:25:50 at that point - how did I mess up this badly?  I slowed down a bit more, and all of the runners with me pulled ahead as I had hoped they would.  The music from the finish line drifted across the park, "Eye of the Tiger" by 80's group Survivor.  Yep, that was fitting, but the thought that came to me, I think I even vocalized it, was "Long runs put the tiger in the cat!" 

I decided that the 13-mile marker was definitely misplaced, when I had to run nearly a quarter of a mile to get to the finish line.  The clock was just past 2:29 when I crossed the timing mat, with my watch showing 2:28:25 for my finish, and 13.04 miles elapsed.  As a volunteer wearing a Big Peach Sizzler shirt gave me my medal, I wondered, was my Garmin off, or was the course too short?  I calculated that if I ran the same pace for 13.11 miles, I would have finished closer to 2:29:30, which would have been perfectly acceptable.  

I grabbed a cool bottle of water and guzzled most of it down within a couple of minutes, then took a second bottle, which I drank a little more slowly.  A few runners came up to thank me, but unfortunately I was so tired I was having trouble making conversation.  Sonia crossed a few minutes later, so I don't think that she finished in 2:30, but the heat and humidity was really tough.  Finally I decided I had better sit down on the curb, as I was a little dizzy.  I wasn't sure that I would be able to get up, but after Lindy Liu and her pacer partner crossed just a few seconds ahead of 2:45, I managed to get up without too much trouble.  A few cups of Gatorade helped me regain some equilibrium.  

I certainly didn't expect that pacing would be that difficult!  And I said to Lindy, who is also training for New York, "If it's hot like this in New York (in November), I won't be able to finish the marathon distance."  Yet I did everything according to my plan: hydrated well yesterday, ate a decent breakfast this morning, and ran over a minute / mile slower than my eventual marathon goal pace.  Whew, I have a long way to go with my training.  I just hope that it begins to cool down before much longer. 

September 3, 2018: The Big Peach Sizzler 10K

Last weekend I wrote about my contrition in failing to complete the 20-mile run on my training schedule.   By the time I saw Coach Carl at the Tuesday evening track workout, I was no longer too upset with myself, knowing that I still had plenty of time to properly prepare for the New York City Marathon on November 4.  

Back in late June when I asked Coach Carl to set up a marathon training plan, the one race that I hoped to "race" was the Big Peach Sizzler 10K on Labor Day.  In last year's race, I broke the 50 minute barrier for the first time, thanks to a relatively level course and unusually cool weather, and I wanted one race at a midpoint in the program to see how I might perform.  Carl accommodated my request as a "checkpoint" race, even making the Saturday before the race a recovery day.  But after several weeks of serious training, I realized that I was no longer interested in trying to improve on last year's PR performance, unless it helped my preparation for New York.  Frankly I was concerned about overdoing things and injuring myself again.  I talked with Carl about this a few weeks ago, and he recommended that I simply run the first 5K at an easy pace, and then run the second 5K at my 10K goal pace. 

To ensure that I would complete at least 12 miles today, I arrived and parked near the finish area by 6 am.  After a few minutes of dynamic stretches, I took a shortcut from Buckhead Station to Peachtree Road, and headed outbound, using a small flashlight mostly to make myself more visible.  The right lane of Peachtree Road was already coned off, even though it was an hour before the 7:00 am start of the 5K race.  I encountered a verbal argument between a couple just outside of the Buckhead MARTA station - which spurred me to run just a bit faster - but I don't think they noticed me.  As I worked my way up Peachtree Road, I reached an enthusiastic group of volunteers setting up the water station at the 4.7 mile mark, then another group at the 3 mile water station in Brookhaven, and as the sky grew light, came upon a few dozen volunteers ready to serve water at the 1.5 mile water stop.  After crossing Clairmont Road and turning right onto Miller Street, it was 7:10 am and I was just a quarter-mile from the start.  I ran past other runners warming up for the race, and finally stopped the watch at 5.75 miles, far enough to guarantee that I would reach 12 miles for the day.  I took the intervening 15 minutes to stretch a bit and catch up with a few friends preparing for the start.  

With a few friends in the tucker Running Club, 5 minutes before the start

After posing for a photo with a few Tucker Running Club members, I headed into the group of runners starting behind the 10:00 min / mile pace sign.  With the conclusion of the National Anthem, we moved forward toward the starting line.  We waited for a couple of minutes, and then heard the report of the starting gun.  After a moment, we began walking, and finally the starting mat came into view.  I started my watch and started jogging.  I could have raced around the runners in front of me, but was thinking "When I begin the New York Marathon, I need to start slowly!" and I held back for the first mile, at a 10:24 minute pace.  Someone asked in the first minute, "Are you running the Galloway method?"  As I heard the watch signal the first walk break at 4:30, it seemed too crowded to safety slow down.  So I did the next best thing: I found an opening in front of me and decided to surge forward for 30 seconds until the end of the "walk" break signaled at 5:00 minutes.  Perhaps it wasn't a good idea to change my plan on a whim, but ... my legs felt good, and these were essentially "stride" workouts.  I continued to do surge every 5 minutes, just for 30 seconds for the first six miles.  And as the miles ticked away, I was gradually speeding up, 9:28 for mile 2 (OK, that wasn't too gradual), 9:24 for mile 3, 9:10 for mile 4, and 9:06 for mile 5.  I was annoyed, no, let's say amused, as a couple passed me somewhere in mile 3, while they were complaining about their current injuries.  Even though I was growing tired as we approached and then turned right onto Piedmont Road, I covered mile 6 in 8:53 miles.  Passing the mile 6 marker, I used every last bit of energy to propel myself to a strong finish, running at a 7:48 min / mile pace.  Not too much further!  Turning right into the road entering Buckhead Station, I saw 59:45 on the clock, and really hustled to ensure that I would cross the finish line before the hour was up on the race.  Not that I was racing!  58:47 chip time, around 9:25 min / mile average pace. 

Happy finishers!  Flanked by ATC run lead Megan McGuigan, age group winner Susie Kim,
another age group winner Kilsun Hogue, and ATC run lead Michelle Vail

12 good miles gave me a great
anandamide buzz!

I was pleasantly surprised to see three graduate students from the organic chemistry cohort at Emory!  Between our department chair (who has climbed six of the seven tallest mountains on each continent, hoping to try Everest again soon) and at least three other faculty members who have run marathons in 2018, we're a pretty athletic group of scientists!  

And I finished the full 12 mile workout prescribed for the day, both in the distance and in the quality of the run.