Having raced the Atlanta's Finest 5K last week, and looking forward to the Big Peach Sizzler 10K on Labor Day (Sept 2), Coach Carl Leivers recommended taking it easy in today's race:
I was 100% on board with that message. After I won the race with Brian Minor in the Decatur-DeKalb 4-miler, we scheduled a big rematch planned in the Big Peach Sizzler in just nine days. I know that Carl is helping to minimize my chances of injuring myself again, which is probably more likely if I race hard every week. My plan has had a 12-mile long run four weeks ago and another two weeks ago, with the recommendation to keep the pace easy. So far I've been very compliant. To make it a little more interesting, I've tried to make these progression runs, with the additional caveat:
That requires literally running the first mile and often the first three or four miles "with the brakes on", for me at the slow end of the 11 - 12 min / mile pace. That has worked well: by running the first mile extremely slowly, I have some room to gradually speed up by just a few seconds with each mile, so I can still run my last mile the fastest. I've definitely felt the strength and cardiovascular benefits from this training strategy! I don't think that the absolute VO2 max value from a Garmin watch is that accurate, but surely the upward trend is real!
Before the race began, I caught up with several other runners, including Carl Line, who I haven't seen in about a month. Last weekend, while I was running a 5K race + a 2-1/2 mile cooldown, he ran 18 Miles for Maria in the morning. And then in the 90 degree heat of the early evening, Carl ran 13.1 more miles in the Alien Half Marathon. I haven't run more than 30 miles total in a week in this training cycle, much less running that many in a single day! Back in May, we ran a couple of races together: he won the first race by about 45 seconds. Two weeks later, I outran him by about one minute! Afterwards I learned that he was saving his energy for a half-marathon the next day, in his quest to complete 100 half-marathons, which he did on July 4 of this year. When I asked Carl his goal for today, he said "Trying to beat 2 hours" to which I replied "I'm just doing this as a training run. I'll run very slowly in the first lap, then will try to gradually speed up." I didn't have a time goal at all, I just wanted to finish before the finish line closed 2-1/2 hours after the start. Last year I ran 2:12:30 using this race as a training run, consistently marking each lap at about a 10:45 min / mile pace.
There were two big differences this year: 1) the temperature was quite a bit warmer, 74 deg F at the start, and 2) we started three or four blocks south of last year's starting point. I didn't know the reason before the race, but after we ran, I learned that a big section of Ted Turner Drive had been removed, so there was a gaping hole over Atlanta's Big Gulch, near the 2-mile mark of last year's race route.
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| Near the start (photo added Sept 1) |
Lap 1: True to my plan, I ran the first mile very slowly. My watch kept showing my pace tick faster than 11 minute / mile, so I forced myself to slow down, and then braked some more. At one point I was surrounded by a phalanx of young women. I wanted to scoot around them to run faster, but I realized that by staying patient, they were helping me stay on plan. Mile 1: 11:01 minutes. Approaching Spelman College, my "security detail" split up through a couple of turns, and I sped up just a tad. However, walking through the water station midway through the second mile brought me back onto a reasonable pace, finishing mile 2 in 10:42. Instead of turning onto Ted Turner Drive, the police directed us to run one more block to turn left onto Forsyth Street. Several blocks later, we turned left onto Marietta Street. Last year this was one short and quick block, but this year's stretch along Marietta was longer. Then we made another left turn onto Centennial Olympic Park drive, bringing us on the original and familiar route, uphill past the State Farm Arena (formerly Phillips Arena), and then past the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. I decided to take some photos in this area for the blog post, and that successfully slowed me down a bit.
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| Mercedes-Benz Stadium ahead, and a billboard celebrating our best football team, Atlanta United. The lighting wasn't that good at 7:30 am, sorry! |
After passing Mercedes-Benz Stadium, it was just two blocks, downhill, to the relay exchange and finish area. Tim Parker was the first volunteer we encountered, cheering us on and directing the relay runners to stay to the left. Then I saw Tes Sobomehin Marshall, the race director, cheering us forward. This was the best part of the race, watching the excitement of the relay runners approaching the exchange area, with the other 300 members of their teams cheering us all!
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| Tim Parker (above), Tes Marshall (below). Tes pointed straight at me as I ran toward the exchange area, but you may have trouble seeing her arm. |
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| Teammates / spectators waiting for the third or fourth legs of their relay (above); I stayed to the right of the lane, away from the excitement and chaos of the exchange zone coming up on the left. |
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| (Above) The runner in the blue singlet is completing the first 5K leg, and preparing to hand off to the woman ahead also wearing blue. The two women ahead and to the right are running either the 10K or the 20K. (Below) The exit to the relay exchange, and the timing mat marking each lap. This clock didn't show the correct time, but there was another clock in the finish area (not shown, but behind and to the right) that appeared to be correct, about 33 minutes elapsed when I passed. |
At this point my phone memory was full, so I couldn't take any more photos. But I was happy with my first lap, 32:55 on my watch for about 3.0 miles. With the new start area up ahead, the first lap was shorter but the subsequent laps measured between 3.1 and 3.2 miles.
Lap 2: "Brakes off!" Nonetheless I was very careful to just run easily, with over 9 miles to go. The second water station was less than a block beyond the timing mat. I accepted a cup of Gatorade, walking for about 30 seconds, and then took my first of six ShotBloks, planning to take two per lap for the rest of the race. My heart rate was still nice and low, below 150 beats per minute, consistent with an easy running pace. I sped up to a 10:30 min / mile pace. In a long stretch on Peters Avenue, probably about 1/3 of a mile, the lanes of runners passed each other. In the first lap, I had only seen a few of the very fastest runners, but on the second lap, I now spotted several friends who were a few minutes ahead of me. As expected, I saw Liz Mann, Carl Line, Bob Wells, Carol Gsell, among others. I knew that I wouldn't catch up to them, but it didn't matter, as today was just a training run. On the return loop from Spelman College, I finally saw the sun in the east, and wore my sunglasses for the rest of the race. For most of the first two laps, I was just a bit behind Jennifer Butz. She is training for a 50K race in two weeks. She had planned to run a steady 11 min / mile pace, so on the return loop from Spelman College, I caught up to her. She was using run-walk intervals so we leapfrogged a couple of times, but I moved ahead after I had walked through the mid-course water station, taking a second ShotBlok. On this lap, I began counting the blocks along Forsyth Street (four blocks) and Marietta Street (three blocks), in case I needed that information if I grew tired later in the race. Working my way up the hill past the sports arenas and then back downhill to the exchange area, I finished lap 2 in 32:50 (data from Strava), estimated pace 10:20 min / mile over approximately 3.15 miles.
Lap 3: Having run the first two laps very conservatively, I thought that I would speed up just a tiny bit more. I still walked through both water stations on this lap, taking a ShotBlok at each one, but ran a couple of miles faster than a 10 minute / mile pace. Hopefully I wouldn't regret that later on. In the two-lane area on Peters Street, I saw Carl Line, close to the same point that I had seen him in the first lap, but still a few minutes ahead of me. Coming back from Spelman College, some of the faster runners in the 20K or the last leg of the relay lapped me, moving quite quickly. I congratulated and encouraged as they passed me. After all, I wasn't racing, just training today. At the point where we crossed Ted Turner Drive, a woman nearly crashed into me. She had been on my right, and appeared to want to make a left turn onto Turner Drive, and must have expected that I would also turn. Then I realized that she was wearing a laminated tag: she was running the relay. Since it was her first lap of the day, perhaps she didn't realize that the route had changed from last year. The police must have assumed that we all knew the route by the third lap, or perhaps after more than an hour, their attention was exclusively on controlling auto traffic at the intersections. In the final mile of the third lap, I ran about the same pace as a young boy, probably about 10 years old, who was running with his mother. When I checked the results later in the day, I saw that there was one youth team named "Boys on the Run," who finished about a minute ahead of me. Late in the third lap, I passed Carol Gsell, walking. I asked if she was alright, she replied "I'm having a bad day." Fortunately I knew that we were close to the finish area, and she looked like she could make it. The boy and his mom moved ahead of me as we all approached the relay exchange area. I finished lap 3 in 31:50, estimated pace 10:05 min / mile. As I passed through, I saw Jackie Dean, who has previously trained with Coach Carl. I asked how her team did, and she replied "We won!" Obviously her team had finished four laps before I had finished my third.
Lap 4: I intended to make this my fastest lap. I took water at the first water station but didn't slow down. Tommy Daniels was handing out cold towels and he offered one as I dashed by. I wished that I had taken one but had missed it, calling out (untruthfully) "I'm good!" Well, that wasn't really wrong: I was carrying a Coach Carl towel to wipe off sweat. The temperature grew warmer as the sun rose into the sky. I passed Bob Wells, who was walking. I asked if he was OK: he said that he was, and sounded like he was just tired. Before reaching Peters Street, I saw two runners with bibs in the opposite lane. That wasn't the race route, unless the final lap was a different route? Something to watch out for on the way back.
I didn't have much trouble banging out mile 10 in 9:30. But as I checked my watch for my pace, I nearly suffered a collision with an automobile: the driver crossed the intersection at the moment I was entering. I wasn't watching that closely, and maybe the driver and the police misjudged because perhaps I was running a little faster than the others around me. Or maybe it was the black singlet that made me invisible to the police and the driver. I slowed down, threw up my arms and yelled "What the %&X@?!" as the car passed in front of me. Fortunately I wasn't hit, and even though my arms were up in the air, I restrained myself from throwing my last ShotBlok at the car.
I got back up to speed, but for the rest of the race, I watched carefully at all of the intersections. Near Spelman College, I was running alone when another car turned into my lane! I waved furiously to direct the driver out of my lane, and at least that driver saw me and immediately crossed into the other lane. When I reached that turn, the policeman working the corner had his back to the road, looking in his car for something. I decided not to say anything and just kept running. But at subsequent intersections, where the police were watching, I thanked them for staying through the final lap. Carol Gsell was still on the course, walking the final lap. She was certain that she could at least finish. I congratulated and encouraged her as we passed, glad to see that she didn't need to drop out. When I checked their Strava results later in the day, I saw that Carol and Bob had both run some additional mileage before the start of the race. I dashed through the last water station after taking my last ShotBlok, following my plan not to take a walk break in the final lap. That was around the end of mile 11, completed in a respectable 9:52, but not faster than I had run mile 10. Although the police didn't direct us one way or the other at the intersection with Turner Drive, the runners ahead of me ran straight ahead on Peters Street as we had in the last three laps, and I just followed them.
With about 1-1/2 miles to go, I began to struggle. Turning onto Forsyth Street, a 10 foot hill that I had hardly noticed on the previous laps nearly broke my spirit. I was hot, tired, sweaty. My legs ached. A couple of runners passed me. I tried to keep up with them, but then I began to feel sick to my stomach. It had been about three hours since I had eaten breakfast, but it seemed that the ShotBloks were causing some discomfort. My stomach felt tight against my running belt. I had never vomited while running, and had rarely felt that kind of trouble in a race - although apparently that happened to the great Meb Keflezighi on several occasions. Of course I was moving at only 1/2-Meb speed. After I nearly tripped over a pothole, I reminded myself that this was just a training run. I needed to save my effort for Labor Day. It really didn't matter if my last mile today was not my fastest. I let myself slow down a bit more. I thought about giving in to walking, but a slow jog helped me get through the four blocks of Forsyth Street.
As we turned onto Marietta Street, way up ahead, I saw Carl Line, in his distinctive American Flag running pants. It took me about a minute to reach the same spot, as the three blocks on Marietta ticked by. Hmm, Carl has slowed down even more than I have. I wonder if I can catch him? Probably not. But I was no longer thinking of the heat or my stomach. My legs still hurt, but I wasn't too far from the finish. And turning onto Centennial Olympic Park Drive, had I gained on Carl? It certainly seemed like it! Still, I didn't think that I had a chance to catch up to him. But after passing State Farm Arena while running uphill, he was less than 100 feet ahead of me. I started thinking, "Carl, don't look behind you." I imagined running silently and stealthily, sneaking up on him. And in front of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, I drew even with him. I don't think he noticed, until I said, "Carl, this is for our age group!" As I passed, I would have been happy if he had matched my pace, and we had run the final two blocks together to the finish line. After all, we were well past 2 hours. There was no chance of an award at that relatively slow pace. But he didn't seem to keep up. I moved into a higher gear, as I crested the final hill. I took a quick look behind me, Carl wasn't right on my shoulder, now he was at least 50 feet behind. I kept pushing as hard as I could. Approaching the finish line, I took one more quick look, didn't see Carl. Was he on my other side? No, no one at all was immediately behind me. And as I accelerated toward the finish line, I was gaining strongly on a young woman ahead of me. The spectators were cheering: could I catch up to her, I thought as I entered the finish chute just a few steps behind her.
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| She crossed the finish line one second ahead of me. |
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| And then my turn to cross the final timing mat. (Photos added Sept. 1) |
31:35 for the fourth lap, 2:09:08 total elapsed on my watch. Later I saw that my official gun time was 2:09:31.
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| Rolling hills the entire way: the big hill near the end of each lap was from Marietta Street past Mercedes-Benz Stadium. It wasn't a true hill, but the elevated roadway passing over the Big Gulch of Atlanta. |
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| Heart rate steadily rose from start to the 11-mile mark where I began to feel sick. Good thing I slowed down just a bit before making the finish push to the end. Below, a new feature on Garmin Connect provides a bar graph of my heart rate zones. I ran lap 1 and part of lap 2 in zone 3; the rest of lap 2 and all of lap 3 in zone 4; and I must have been in zone 5 for the entirety of lap 4. |
I stopped shortly after crossing the finish line, waited for Carl to cross, about 20 seconds later. Although I had outrun him at the end, I had really paid for my strong finish. He looked much better than I felt, whereas I was struggling to stay upright. I collected my medal, just kept slowly walking around until I could pick up a delicious bottle of water and a banana. I needed several minutes to regain enough equilibrium for some post-run stretches, which helped my battered, tired legs.
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| Garmin splits (above) show my numerical times per mile, but the Strava bar graph (below) shows more dramatically how substantially I fell off the pace in mile 12. I was happy to see that the final fraction of a mile was my second-fastest split of the race. |
I was still recovering from my finish when the awards ceremony began. It took awhile for Tes to get to the male age group 50 - 59 (no chance to win anything with such a large group). And then she announced, "in third place, finishing in 2:09:54, Carl Line!" Wow!! Both Carl and I were stunned, and he told me, "That means you're second place!" Sure enough, after Carl had collected his award, Tes announced "and in second place, with a time of 2:09:31, I know that he's going to blog about it, please congratulate a good friend of mine, Frank McDonald!" I walked up grinning from ear to ear! First place went to Ron Tolliver, finishing in 2:04:55. We were all present for the post-race photo (which I will add here if it appears on the FaceBook page for the race).
Unfortunately I followed Coach Carl's advice only for the first half of the race. I didn't rein in my competitive nature, and sped up more than I should have in the third lap, and then I really suffered in the final lap. But I did have fun with it, especially with my strong finish. After the festivities concluded, and I had stretched a bit more, I was relieved to find that I could jog a half-mile to the lot where I had parked my car, at a 12 min / mile pace without difficulty or pain. Hopefully I will recover completely in the next few days.
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