December 10, 2022: The Monday Night Brewing Westside 10-Miler

Marathon training plans rarely go perfectly, in fact I recently heard a podcast with Coach Chris McClung (Rogue Running podcast) who said that he worries with a client hasn't been challenged with adversity somewhere along the way. Makes sense, the 26.2 mile marathon distance offers ample opportunities for adversity. Whenever the first little thing goes wrong, the immediate task is to figure out how to recover or at least to manage for the remaining miles. 

Warmup route: blue is lowest elevation,
red is highest elevation,
near Centennial Olympic Parl

With 11 weeks before the marathon, today's workout was an 18-mile long run. I had registered for this race months ago, so Coach Carl worked it into the plan as an opportunity to practice marathon fueling and perhaps try out a marathon pace for the last 8 - 9 miles of the long run. Fortunately I woke up early enough to park in Westside Atlanta by 6:15 am, and had started my easy initial miles by 6:25 am, hoping that I might get all 8 extra miles run and done before the race. I was hoping to keep my pace around 11:30 min / mi, about 90 seconds slower than possible marathon goal pace. While wearing a Noxgear lighted vest an hour before sunrise, looking toward the towers of midtown Atlanta partially hidden by morning fog, I recalled that if you had asked me if I would make up to run at 6:30 am, I would have probably said "That's crazy!" I ran south on Howell Mill Road to the merger with Marietta Street, and then Marietta to make a loop around Centennial Olympic Park, before returning north on Luckie Street, turning into Tech Parkway at the Georgia Tech campus, a left on Means Street and a quick right turn onto Marietta to return to the starting area. I kept having to consciously slow myself down, but did run fairly conservatively between 10:59 - 11:29 min / mi. I had covered nearly 5 miles over 54 minutes when I stopped at the runningnerds tent near the starting line to pick up my bib, which took just a couple of minutes, then I pinned on the bib. I jogged over to the car to drop off my Noxgear vest, took my first UCAN of today's workout, and then resumed my warmup, running north on Howell Mill and then left on Huff Road to Marietta Boulevard, and back. Tim Parker was setting up cones as this was mile 9 of the route. I had a chance to experience the large hill on "Huff and Puff Road", albeit at easy pace and with only six miles on my legs. I had realized that I wasn't going to get to 8 miles in time for the 8:00 am start of the race (and I can't hurry up when the goal is to run slowly!) but was satisfied to mark 7.38 miles covered. 

Looking toward the start, about 2/3 of the way back. 

It was very important for me to run the first two miles of the race at a conservative pace, as I didn't want to attempt to drop toward marathon pace until I had passed ten miles for the day. In the beginning, the route was crowded enough and I was running a nice 11:30 min / mi pace, but then the route turned downhill, and despite running "with my brakes on", I finished race mile 1 in 10:52. Shortly afterward, we turned left into a neighborhood, and I caught up with Linda Phinney and Donna Roberts. I thought it would be nice to stay with them, but I kept getting a few feet in front. Fortunately they helped me with an 11:01 mile 2, although I had moved in front of them for good before reaching the mile 2 mark. So much for cautiously running with friends, who both routinely run more miles per week than me. Midway through mile 3, there was the water station outside the entrance to Westside Reservoir Park. I pulled out the second UCAN and slowed to a walk, accepting a cup of pink Gatorade and draining the cup before resuming running. For the past 10 minutes, the faster 10K runners have been running the opposite direction; I enter the park as Caroline Dunn is leaving in the opposite direction. We pass through the "bones" marking the entrance gate to the park. A group of men immediately in front of me talk about the "dinosaur bones". Funny, I had always thought of these as representing "whale bones". 

Is it a whale or a dinosaur skeleton? 

Non-runners sometimes ask "What do you think about while you're running?" Well, at that moment I start thinking of whale-song music that was popular in the 1970's, when people began to realize that whales were highly sentient, and were also in danger of extinction. I most recently heard the whale-song at the beginning and end of the first song of Kate Bush's debut album, the song "Moving". The melody of Kate Bush's beautiful soprano voice went through my mind. I don't know all of the words, but the fifth line resonated: 

"Moving liquid, you are just as water,

Flow around all that comes in your way,

Don't think it over, it always takes you over,

And sets your spirit dancing.

How I'm moved, how you move me,

With your beauty's potency,

You give me life, please don't let me go, 

You crush the lily in my soul." 

So it's not really about the movement of a runner, not even sure that it's a love song with that last line! Anyway, I'm musing as we pass the U-turn mark for 10K runners, and we get into a portion of the park that I've never seen. I know that this park has some "disrespectful hills" (to use a memorable term from Brian Minor) and there was a fairly big hill as we passed the mile 3 marker: 10:31, now trying to work down toward goal pace. Fortunately, we turned right instead of climbing another substantial hill. We were moving past a small creek, water quietly moving along the creek thanks to a good amount of rain this week. I chatted with Casey Nicodemus, as we leap-frogged for much of the middle miles of the race. He was wearing short shorts and suspenders with no shirt; I wore two layers, with my NYC Marathon shirt on the top. I knew that I would not be running fast and wanted to stay warm. This was probably my favorite part of the race, enjoying the fall forest and a fairly level paved trail. We exited the park turning right onto Johnson Road; many thanks to the volunteer who continuously held the pedestrian crossing light and directed us into the protected left lane. Mile 4 in 10:39. 

Race route color-coded for elevation, not to pace.
Red is high, blue is low. 

We turned into a new neighborhood: many nice houses, gentle downhill, but after making a right turn, we had to climb what felt like the first really big, disrespectful hill. I wasn't planning to take a walk break until we approached the next water station, but ... I wasn't not racing today, just moving, so I went ahead and took the walk break, counting to 30 seconds. It felt good to reach the top and turn left to rejoin Johnson Road. Natalie Witt is guiding us through the intersection, and calls out "Frank, you look great!" I try to smile but mutter audibly "not feeling that great, sorry". Just in time, there was the water station in the same spot where we had first encountered it in the other direction 20 - 25 minutes earlier. I took another 30 second walk break, but was disappointed that they were serving plain water this time around. Alice Pate saw me coming through the water station, and slowed down to run with me for a few minutes. Unfortunately, looming overhead was a huge uphill climb to Marietta Street, and I couldn't keep up with Alice as she held up her end of the conversation. That hill was seriously disrespectful. I was going to run, run, run, .... walk. Walk. Walk. Alice slowed to walk with me, and asked me what pace I was trying to run. "I had planned to try for 10 min / mile, but today it's impossible." Finally I return to running and feel a second wind! So the walk uphill was the right thing for me today. But about 5 minutes later, I needed another walk break.  I gave in, told Alice to go ahead, I was just going to slow her down, and walked for 2 whole minutes. What I didn't realize until I checked my data hours later is that my heart rate had spiked. It was a good thing that I didn't trip over my ego. I realize that I've run 13 miles so far, and still have 5 miles to go in the second half of the race. On the other hand, it's only the last 5 miles of 18 total! Mile 5, 11:55, 55 minutes elapsed. 

Nearly 200 feet in elevation difference from peak to valley.
A lot of disrespectful hills starting around mile 3. 

We turned left from Marietta Street to run north on Marietta Boulevard. Atlanta street addresses are tricky; it's even worse if the street has Peachtree in the name, over 20 of those streets in metro Atlanta. I returned to running, mostly to get through the busy intersection quickly, following the line directed by two policemen. And now it was downhill as far as I could see. After that slow fifth mile, I wanted to return to attempted marathon pace. Just as I was beginning to get comfortable with a slightly faster pace, we reached the intersection with Huff Road. The 10K runners get to turn right for a 2-mile dash to the finish, while the 10-mile runners go straight. A policeman waves a car through the intersection in front of me, then after the car has cleared, he sees me coming. There is another car southbound on Marietta Blvd that noncommittally moves toward but not into the left turn lane. I assume that the car is going to stop, perhaps even trying to decide if Huff Road is even open to car traffic. I'm moving to the left side of the road so as not to get in the way of any 10K runners. As I approach the policeman, he is holding up his hands toward the car. But I guess he isn't confident that the driver isn't trying to make the turn. The policeman moves forward, into my line. I move a little more to the left, the policeman continues to advance, totally focused on protecting me from the car, but not looking in my direction at all. The policeman begans to run forward, I think about moving even more to the left but he is moving as fast as me. At the last second, I dart to the right, narrowly avoiding an accidental assault on a peace officer. Chrystal Akor is working as a volunteer at the corner with Huff Road and sees the near-miss, then smiles in relief as I safely pass by. Thanks Chrystal! 

Heart rate really spiked about halfway through the race,
and remained high for about 30 minutes,
until I took a few more walk breaks. 

I'm not paying attention to my heart rate, just trying to maintain a good pace downhill. I'm dwelling on the near-miss with law enforcement, if you want to know what this runner is thinking about during a race. Mile 6 is 10:51 but that included a minute or so of walking after passing the mile 5 marker. Casey Nicodemus is ahead of me in the distance; I never caught up to him. I wished that I was running closer to 10 min / mile than 11 min / mile. I tried to speed up a bit. That carried me for awhile, although I realized that I should have taken my last UCAN by now. So as we turned right onto Carroll Drive, I slowed to a walk break and took the UCAN. Fortunately I carried a bottle of Nuun on my running belt, so I washed it down in the absence of a water station. Mile 7 is 10:34, which I think is better especially since I took the short walk break for nutrition and hydration. Just three miles to go, trying for 10 minute / mile for the rest of the route. 

However, my pace really suffered in the second-half of the race. 

We got to the bottom of the hill, turned right onto Chattahoochee Avenue. I saw the nets of Top Golf up ahead, but we're running uphill, and it was really difficult. I'm walking uphill, tried to run for a moment, nope, walking again. Then who else but Kate Bush came to the rescue! It was her hit from the mid-1980's "Running Up That hill". It's probably her best-known song, although as one of her early avant-garde fans (I'm speaking of myself, LOL) I never really cared for the song. But the words are memorable: 

"If I only could, I'd make a deal with God,

And I'd get him to swap out places, 

Running up that road, running up that hill,

With no problem." 

I focused on that last line, "With no problem" and pushed myself to run up that hill to the right turn onto Ellsworth Industrial Road. I took a walk break at the last water station, serving pink Gatorade, thank goodness. Returning to a run, I make my way south on Ellsworth. At one point I caught up with a man in a gray shirt, then ran with him for a few minutes. He asked "May I ask how old you are?" I responded "60" thinking that he was a decade younger, only hear here him reply "I'm 66." Wow, I think, he looks younger than me. I'm wearing a cap so he can't really tell that I'm bald in front. We exchanged names. Martin recently ran the Alaska Marathon in Anchorage, very well-run, and may run a marathon in Oklahoma City in April with his daughter, to honor the many people murdered in the Federal Building bombing in 1995. Mile 8, 12:30. Afterwards, I saw that my heart rate dropped back to a more normal rate, about 160 bpm. A combination of the water station and Kate Bush calmed me down, I think. 

After a few minutes of running together with Martin, I had to take a walk break, as we began to go uphill. I told Martin "Go ahead, I'll see you at the finish." He replies "You'll catch up" and I correct myself with a more realistic "Maybe". (I never caught up to him.) The hill became quite steep; I remembered racing downhill in the opposite direction several years ago. Up ahead I saw Tim Parker, near the same location as before. "Hi Tim! Not feeling as good as when I saw you two hours ago." Tim smiled and tried to encourage me as I passed, then making the left turn onto Huff Road. Chrystal Akor had moved to this intersection, cheering me on with a big smile. Huff Road is downhill in this section, and I remembered it from the warmup run. But my legs can't take advantage of the favorable elevation drop, and I say as much to a man who catches up to me at this stage. He seems to be struggling as much as me at this point. Also he may be in my age group, not that I really care today. We reach the trough on Huff Road. Now it's a pretty big uphill on "Huff and Puff Road." I haven't made it far uphill before I must slow to a walk break. I thought that I was ready for this after my warm-up run. Nope, walking for a full minute. My watch is showing a 15 min / mile pace since the last mile alert. Then Kate Bush tugged at my heart again, "I'm running up that hill, with no problem" and I started running. Am I making a deal with God? After a few minutes, I take a walk break, but my deal is to count to 30 and then force myself to resume running. I've now completed mile 9, 14:14. Wow, that was rough. 

Album cover from "Hounds of Love", 1985. 
I think I had a "celebrity crush" on Kate Bush back in the day. 
Maybe I still do, considering how much I've listened
to her music in the past year. And today while writing this blog post..
link to New Yorker article from 2018

A group of three people caught up to me and passed me. We made the left turn onto Howell Mill Road. Less than a mile to the finish, and there was just one more uphill. Two of the people that had passed me raise their hands and take a "Galloway walk-break." So close to the end! I'm running slowly but I'm not gonna walk, no way. The four of us reached the section of Howell Mill where police are waiting to help us to cross the road from the left lane onto Trabert Street, for the final turn of the race. We all slowed down, the policeman assured us that we're good to cross. At the top of Trabert Street, I know and everyone else who has ever run this race knows that it's downhill all the way to the finish. But how far? I probably surprise the others by suddenly increasing my speed. I stay to the far left of the narrow lane, as I don't want to impede anyone who may try to pass me, that's not fair. In my head, I switch one word in Kate Bush's lyric: "I'm running down that hill, with no problem." That sounds pretty good at that moment. And I continue to push myself to speed up, topping out at 7.3 mph. Just last week I ran 9.4 mph at the finish of the one-mile race. As I finally see the finish line, the clock shows 1:51 and change. The race photographer captures my photos as I cross the timing mat. I smiled as I saw him (and will post the photo if / when it's publically available) and avoided stopping my watch until I passed him. 1:51:37, as I started 30 - 45 seconds after the official start. 

I thought that it might take me 1:50 to finish if I ran consistent 11 min / miles.
I got close enough to that time, but not the way that I had planned.  

I saw Tes Marshall standing next to a table past the finish line, waved to her. She asked "How did it go?" My one-word answer: "Humbling." She and I laughed, as I bent over with my hands on my knees. Then I remembered that I still had most of one mile left to run. I wanted to hang out at the post-race party, and realized after I got home that I failed to pick up my race shirt. But I knew that if I didn't continue moving, and soon, that I wasn't going to finish the 18-mile workout. There was no chance of me winning an award: at least I hope not, that would be embarrassing. If I didn't move, I might even stiffen up so badly that I couldn't get back to my car later on. So I started up that hill, started my watch. Tried to run, made a deal with God to walk most of the hill. Near the top, Donna Roberts was working her way downhill. "Great job Donna, you're almost done, 1/3 of a mile!" Near the top at the intersection with Howell Mill, I began slowly running again, then stopped to catch my breath before attempting to cross. The police were eagerly encouraging me to cross, I realized that they were signaling in both directions for cars to slow, so I got across the road as quickly as I could. It was a slow walk-jog up Howell Hill. Linda Bode Phinney passed, I waved, but she asked "Are you OK?" I guess I must have looked quite beaten up. I replied, "Thanks, yes, just very sore all over." 

It was a relief to get back to the car, which was a little further than I had expected. But I covered a total of 18.08 miles today, so that was mission accomplished. I'm definitely taking an off day from running tomorrow, maybe an easy walk in the evening. Although everything hurts this evening, nothing hurts more than anything else, so I think that I've escaped injury. And I got that rough workout out of the way in this training cycle. Hopefully I will learn, adapt, and resume training while learning from this timely dose of humility. With 11 weeks to go until the marathon, I still have plenty of time to continue preparing - unlike my students taking the fall semester 2022 CHEM 203 final exam within 48 hours. 

At least all of these numbers are pretty good for me, 
in the midst of marathon training. 

December 4, 2022: The Peachtree Mile

8 weeks into the 20 week marathon training program, I can really feel the increased sense of endurance building in. I'm beginning to feel cautiously optimistic about a great race in the February 26 marathon. Of course what is essential is to stay healthy, stretching and a little bodyweight training, and keeping the easy days very easy. I'm very happy with the training plan that Coach Carl has created. I think it was a challenge for him when I signed up for a 20-week plan but also sent a list of 10 races I was planning to run. I told Carl that I was happy to do some of the races at easy pace, just an opportunity for me to accumulate training mileage on a supported / protected course plus the social benefit of seeing people at races. But I emphasized that I hoped that I could actually "race" a few of the events. Carl has nicely satisfied my request, with five races that we're using as speed/endurance checks. Carl understands that while I have ambitious goals when I sign up for a training plan, I also want to have fun along the way, which means racing some of the miles in the plan. 

This is a "dropdown" weekend, but still getting in an 8-mile effort today 
prior to an 18-mile long run next weekend. 

I was intrigued when I received an e-mail a few months ago about "The Peachtree Mile". This race will run the last mile of the "Peachtree Road Race" 10K on Independence Day. I wondered, what might I do if I could run the last net downhill mile of this race without having been beaten up by Cardiac Hill? Or in cool December weather, rather than a hot midsummer morning? I even began boldly thinking about trying to run another sub-7 minute / mile, which I've done three times: twice in the Morningside Mile races in 2016 and 2017, and most recently in summer 2020 in the first Atlanta Track Club in-person event after the end of the spring 2020 COVID lockdown. My personal best for the mile is 6:52 when I was 53 years old, on a course with an 87 foot drop in the first half-mile, but then regaining 70 feet in the second half-mile. On the other hand, today's course would be a fairly continuous gentle downhill run, with a couple of small rollers in the middle. 

I didn't receive any e-mails from the race in the days prior to race day (it seemed to be a problem for some but not all of the participants) but checking the race website a few day ago indicated that the event was on as originally scheduled. I arrived at Piedmont Park (near the finish) around 6:45 am, but ended up running more than a mile between the Charles Allen Gate on the 10th Street side of Piedmont Park (the finish) to the start at Colony Square just north of 14th Street on Peachtree Street before finding bib pick-up at the 14th Street Gate of Piedmont Park. It's too bad that when I checked the website a few days ago, I didn't click on the map below, which would have clearly shown me exactly where to go. I wore two layers due to the 45 degree F temperature, but was having trouble warming up my legs and getting comfortable, and I think it wasn't due to the cool temperature. I pinned on the bib, did an easy jog inside Piedmont Park to complete the rest of the 2-mile warmup. There were a lot of leaves on the path, and with overnight fog or perhaps some rain, the surface felt rather slick. I tried to finish up with a 15-second stride, reaching only 7:25 min / mile pace. That didn't bode well for today. 

The published race map.
We actually started just north of 14th Street, and
finished on the west side of the intersection with Charles Allen Drive.  

Oh well, I would just see what I could do, perhaps taking care to start out a little patiently just in case my stamina wasn't sufficient to run faster for very long. However,walking from Piedmont Park to the start helped, and I decided not to jog but just walk quickly. Before today's race, I caught up with Luke Butler, Donna Roberts, Jacque Hartley, and Jordan Eison. Matt Grzeck re-introduced himself from our first meeting at the Dental Dash 5K, and Donna introduced me to her friend Pat before we walked to the start. 

Sunrise at Piedmont Park

I sized up the people around me and thought I had found a good position about 10 feet behind the starting mat. Then I backed up another 10 feet or so, to make sure that I started behind a much younger man who looked fast and confident. From my new position, I semi-joked out loud "I hope I'm not in front of anyone running a 7 minute / mile!" but seriously I didn't want to be in the way of anyone that was faster than me. There were only 115 participants today, so only one lane of Peachtree Street was protected for our race. We all needed to be careful at the start. I did occasional "butt kicks" to keep my legs warm - although my flexibility this morning was insufficient for heel to make contact with butt. All the more reason for me to be cautious today. 

We started at 8:00 on the dot. Donna Roberts called out behind me "Go for it Frank!!!" I started my watch with the starting command, even though it took me a few seconds to reach the timing mat. While we had to sort out some paces amongst runners in the first block or so, everyone was running courteously and carefully. We had arranged ourselves smoothly in my part of the pack not long after we had crossed 14th Street. The first part of the race to 13th Street was slightly but noticeably downhill. I carefully watched for potholes, while I worked around a few kids that were already slowing down. There was a little climb to 12th Street, which I glided up smoothly, and then a little drop to "The Corner" with 10th Street. I had resolved not to look at my watch throughout the race, so it was only well after the race that I learned that I had covered that stretch, about 0.40 miles, in 2:35, enjoying a 17 feet elevation drop. 

My Garmin trace. My signal bounced off of
several buildings on Peachtree Street, but recorded better on 10th Street.
Red indicates higher elevation, descending through orange - yellow - green
 to blue as the lower elevation.

I recall from Peachtree Road Race experience that when we turn "The Corner", it is exactly 1 kilometer to the finish. So I'm thinking 5 minutes, or probably less since I'm running faster today than I can manage near the end of a 10K race. I don't know how many minutes I've already run, but I'm not gonna look at my watch. I'm beginning to breathe heavily but regularly, and I seem to be moving fairly consistently. It helps that the elevation dropped some more as we approached Juniper Street. I remember passing several people in this section. I'm still a little heavier than I would like, but as I passed smaller people, I felt like my weight helped my momentum at maintaining pace. I know that doesn't really make sense, but that's what it felt like. In a race, that positive feeling is worth more than physics. 

I saw ultra-endurance runner Jacque Hartley about 20 feet ahead of me and was a little surprised that I was keeping up with her. Then without really trying to do so, I had caught up to and then passed her. "I don't have any business running this fast" I thought, but I just kept going. Afterwards on Strava "flyby", I can see that Jacque was close behind me for the rest of the race. But I didn't know that at the time. Crossing Piedmont Road on 10th Street, we had one uphill, 11 feet elevation gain. Today the hill didn't seem as big as it does in mile 6 of the Peachtree Road Race. And then downhill again! The road leveled out as I saw the green space of Piedmont Park to my left. I think that the 6-mile marker is usually in this spot. So less than 2 minutes left! The only problem was that the left side of the running lane was covered in slippery leaves, but when I moved to the right lane, there weren't many leaves and I was confident that I wouldn't slip in that lane. I was feeling the pain of exertion, but knowing that I was going to finish very soon helped me to "Run Like Hell!" Turns out, that was today's unplanned mantra. 

The pace data for the first third of the race isn't reliable, 
probably due to the buildings on Peachtree Street.
But I ran fairly consistently, and definitely did not slow down
later in the race!  

One last little speed bump and then I saw the finish line. Not much further now! As the timing clock came into focus, I saw 6:30 in the distance. "Oh, I can beat 7!" and a few seconds later "Can't slow down. Run Like Hell!" 6:40 and the finish line is getting closer. We're definitely running downhill. I'm also gaining ground on a grey-haired man - is he in my age group? I pass him in the final seconds of the race. The last thing I see as I fly by the clock is 6:52, crossing the timing mat. 

I was 33rd out of 115 finishers. 
The man that finished just behind me is age 53, 
so not in my age group after all!

Wow! As I slow and then stop, I'm thrilled and totally exhausted at the same time. I had just enough oxygen to get across the finish line, then bent over for a couple of moments to regain my breathing. After watching Jacque, Luke, Donna and Pat finish shortly after me, I walk into the park, just wanting to keep moving to refresh the legs. Luke's friend Cathy asks me "What is your age?" and I replied "60." Cathy already had race results from a QR code provided by the race organizers. I learned that I was 4th place in my age group, but the result also confirmed my 6:52 race time, which was what I cared most about.

Age group results: didn't finish "on the podium",
but that run went as well as I had dared to hope!

Later I clicked on my result for more details, and learned that my chip time was 6:47! That is a personal best for me for the mile!! But this result comes with a BIG asterisk*** thanks to the 77-feet total elevation drop from start to finish, with a 60-feet net drop in the final kilometer on 10th Street. Nonetheless I was very pleased to run fast again, consistently maintaining at least 8 mph throughout the race, and accelerating to 9.4 mph hurtling over the finish line.  

full official results

And yes, after the race, I ran the prescribed 5-mile "warmdown" on the Eastside Beltline. I felt good taking on the additional distance, and it definitely helped with the first stage of post-race recovery. Due to the adrenaline of the race, I covered that distance in 49 minutes rather than a true recovery pace closer to 55 - 60 minutes, but I think that I'll get away with running the recovery too quickly this time.