Joe's Running Blog

11/8 and 11/15/20: Fallen Leaves #2 and 3

The last two races of 2020 were the final two races of the CVR Fallen Leaves series. Katie and I ran the first of the three on November 1, and though we weren’t quite able to do the official course and we got off to a slow start, I managed to run faster than my previous best for this race.

We went back on November 8 for race number 2. While the temporary fencing around the soccer practice field was still in place and therefore impacting the course, on this day there were no students using the track, so we were able to do a proper start and only have a slightly altered route.

I hadn’t exactly done proper “race” prep for this one. For one thing, instead of resting, the day before I went for an 11.07 mile run, to commemorate the date that Joe Biden was declared (by all but Donald Trump and his rabid followers) the winner of the 2020 presidential election. With hope in my heart, I wanted to do a run to celebrate.

So that wasn’t going to help me go fast on race day. Still, I wanted to continue my tradition of improving my time on each running of this race. I had succeeded the previous four races, and given my 5K times throughout the year I believed that besting 25:58 would be well within reach. A pace of 8:10 per mile would be right where I needed to be.

Race time temperature was 47 degrees, which was considerably warmer than the 2019 races, and perfect running weather. Katie ran with me again, though this time I focused on running a race from the start and didn’t stick with her. I recognize that this won’t always be the case once she totally regains her fitness, but for right now I am a faster runner for five kilometers.

The race starts with two full laps (1/2 mile) around the high school track and another run down the front straight before taking a left-hand turn at the end of the temporary fencing. Then run along the fence and the side of the school building on the way to the near end of the bike path. From there it’s a mile out and a mile back on the bike path, before returning back to the track for a final sprint on the front stretch. I remember in last year’s races, keeping up with other participants, I tended to go out too fast which cost me a bit of energy at the end. This time around there was nobody in front of me, and I am also in much better shape.

I hit the half mile mark in 4:10, which was a bit slower than I wanted. It’s tough to pick up time on the stretch across the fields, but the bike path portion is paved and quite flat, so a fast track. I decided to try to keep the pace below 8:00 on the way out. Near the start of the bike path portion I got to the one mile mark in 8:03, which was in my desired range. The way out the bike path was uneventful. There fortunately wasn’t a ton of traffic using the path, and I was mindful to pull up my mask when I approached others. Other that, just run.

When I got to the turnaround at the end of the bike path I saw Katie not too far behind me, maybe a tenth of a mile. I was looking forward to waving as we passed each other, but instead she reversed at the Autumn Onion turnaround point. She told me later that her hip wasn’t feeling great so she decided to be a rabbit for me. It definitely helped, as mile 2 clicked in at 8:01. I was confident at this point that I was going to be faster than last week. Which was good, because I definitely didn’t have a higher gear to shift into. In fact I wasn’t able to keep up the pace of the first couple of miles.

I finally reached Katie when she took a walking break with a little over half a mile to go. I pushed on and was able to gain a little speed when I got back to the track. I reached the finish line in 25:37, another 21 seconds improved, but the distance clocked at 3.16 for this race, so my final pace was 8:06, which was one of the fastest I’ve had for a 5K. Katie returned to running and was able to finish a little less than three minutes later. A good race for her, too.

Secretly I was pretty happy with this time, because it accomplished two goals: 1) being the fastest I’ve run this course, and 2) being slow enough that I figured I should still be able to improve the next time. So on the 15th we went out a third time. The temperature wasn’t quite as warm, 35 degrees, but the conditions were still good for a run. Rather than be content to improve my Fallen Leaves PR, I aimed to lower my personal record for any 5K race, which was 24:58 set on the Leaf Peepers 5K course last month. My pace that day was 8:01. I wanted to finish this one under 8:00.

With the fencing around the soccer practice field now removed, we were able to run the official course this time. Truth be told, it’s not that much different from the previous week’s, but the footing is just a hair better on the “real” course. We started out as before, not too fast on the track. By the time I got to the bike path I was ready to push the pace.

The first mile clicked in at 8:05, which was actually two seconds slower than last week, but I felt strong and I was keeping the pace under 8:00. I managed that for the duration of the bike path, both ways. I don’t fully remember when I passed Katie, but she stuck to the official course this time. A little on the far end of the Peace Park, if I recall. She was running well.

The difference this time is that I hadn’t run 11 miles the day before, and my legs had more life. I was able to maintain my pace even after exiting the bike path, and I focused on running fast rather than on my watch. For what it’s worth, mile two was in 7:49 and mile 3 in 7:54. With the finish line in sight and my PR in mind, I ran the last tenth in a 7:22 pace, which is very fast for me. I crossed the finish line and clicked my watch at 24:34. A PR by 23 seconds. My pace of 7:55 was the first time I ever broke 8:00 for more than two miles. A rousing success! And a rousing success for Katie, too, who broke 27:00 for the first time since we’ve been together. Just a great race!

I think 24:34 is just about as fast as I can run a 5K right now. Of course I will want to try to break that next year, and it’s logical to try to get under 24:00, which is really nothing I envisioned even a year ago. But I don’t believe I can accomplish this with my normal “training” routine of hills and occasional distance. I think I’m going to have to learn about intentionally training for speed. So there’s a goal for next year.

RACE SUMMARIES:

FALLEN LEAVES #2
Distance: 5K
Time: 25:37 (PR for the race)
Pace: 8:06

FALLEN LEAVES #3
Distance: 5K
Time: 24:47 (PR)
Pace: 7:55

11/12/20 Training Update: Another Double Full Monty

Last year, shortly after the opening of the new portion on the east side of downtown, I decided to run the full Montpelier bike path from end-to-end each way. Before I even started my run I had decided that a run along the entire 3.75-mile length of the path would be deemed a Full Monty. Running the entire length both ways therefore is a Double Full Monty. I broke in the new route on Veteran’s Day 2019.

When I first ran the DFM last year I was still building up my weekly mileage and in “get to the end” mode for longer runs. I ran a fairly steady 9:30 moving pace for the whole thing and was pretty pleased with the effort. I built some segments on Strava and for a short time was happy to be King of the Mountain. That is, until other people started running it. This was particularly problematic for the E-W portion, because I had stopped at the office to use the restroom, and that was included in my segment time.

In April I ran a solo virtual version of the Unplugged Half Marathon, which incorporated the East-to-West version of the Full Monty. I set a goal to slightly better my pace on this portion, which would start four miles into the race. I had a goal to run the Unplugged in a 9:30 pace, slightly faster than I had run in Phoenix, so I figured the Full Monty portion could be easily done at that. Without a stop, that would be 35:30 to run the whole thing. Easy peasy! Only I missed the mark by eight seconds.

That irked me, so I reset the 35:30 goal to be reached by the end of the summer. But I got running other things and ended up pushing my deadline back. As November approached, I figured the easiest thing to do would be to take advantage of the holiday and run it again on Veteran’s Day. By now, however, I’d gotten a lot faster. 9:30 wasn’t much of a test at all. (And besides, being only 8 seconds faster than my already-established time, it wouldn’t even move me up the leaderboard.) I set my sights a little higher – or lower as the case may be – and revised the goal to 33:30, which would require an 8:55 pace. That also seemed an easy bar to hurdle, but I gave myself some cushion for street crossings.

After last weeks’ snow, the Vermont weather turned unseasonably mild. Whereas last year I ran in raw cold, this year the temperature was 62 degrees and fairly humid at 9:30 a.m. I ran in shorts and a tee shirt. I parked at the Civic Center and jogged the quarter mile or so down Gallison Hill Road to the start of the bike path. When I arrived an older couple were getting to the end, and the gentleman, who I didn’t know but was pretty sure was in CVR, asked if I was going to turn around and run back up the hill. No, not today. Today was going to be flat! We chatted for a couple of minutes, then I was off.

I neither needed nor intended to do this run at race pace, but I guess when I have a goal in mind, my body/brain tell me that I need to run faster. So I started out at a pretty decent clip, at a 7:45 pace the first couple of times I looked at my watch. I knew I couldn’t keep anything like that up for the whole run, which was 7.5 miles, so I tried to slow down, but I didn’t slow down very much. The first mile was done in 8:04.

Mile 2 mostly encompassed Barre Street and Stone Cutters Way. As I ran on Barre Street I heard a train whistle. It was then that I realized that I needed to cross the tracks a couple of times. I hadn’t considered that I might get stuck waiting for a train! I looked over my shoulder and couldn’t see it yet. I felt some relief as I got to the crossing on Barre Street, but I really didn’t know where this train was. There’s another track crossing at the zig from Barre Street to Stone Cutters, and I was still ahead of the train at that point. In fact, I still couldn’t see it, though I knew it was getting closer.

Finally when I was on Stone Cutters I could see the engine over my shoulder. I did not know how long this train was going to be. The path was to cross back over the tracks for a return to Barre Street after about .4 miles, though I also had the option stay on SCW for another couple of tenths and cross back at Main Street if I would otherwise have to wait. I was racing a train!

As it turns out, the train was just the single engine puttering along the track. It actually passed me shortly before the crossover, so there would be no waiting. The engine slowed down to cross Main Street, which allowed me to make up some ground on it, but it was still far enough ahead of me that it beat me to yet another track crossing. Then it seemed to stop somewhere that I couldn’t see and I got ahead of it again, and I cleared the final track crossing just before the Credit Union with lots of time to spare.

Somewhere in all the excitement I finished mile two (just at the crossover back to Barre) in 8:16. Mile three was by the high school on the old part of the bike path. That was done in 8:36. I was at 25:00 after three miles, and with 8 and a half minutes to run another 3/4 mile, the 33:30 goal was in the bag. In actuality I got to the end of the segment in 31:22, more than two minutes faster than the goal and more than four minutes faster than the last time I ran this leg.

Similar to the last time, I realized that racing this segment took a lot out of me. My hips and feet were getting sore, and I was feeling pretty spent. It was now that I realized that it would have been a good idea to carry some water. As I started heading back the train was approaching me again, so I stopped to snap a couple of photos as it approached the highway underpass. Then I started up again, and I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, other than I wanted to feel more energized than I actually did for the remainder of the run. The only real goal I had was “faster than last time,” and since last time was a 9:30 pace I felt like that was already locked in. I decided to push myself by aiming for a good 10K time. I couldn’t remember my 10K PR, so I went for sub 54:00. It should have been easier than it was, but I reached that marker at 53:44 – as it turns out, 14 seconds off my PR.

After that I still had a mile and a quarter to go, and now I was in full “endurance pace” mode. Mile seven I completed in 9:30. The final half mile was flat/downhill, and I tried to muster something of a kick, but it really wasn’t there. My hips were feeling stiff and my feet were sore. I had noted that my new Altra shoes, the Viho model, aren’t as pillowy a ride as my older ones (Torin), and reviews say they take some time to break in. After running seven miles on pavement my feet had had enough!

So now the Veteran’s Day Double Full Monty is a tradition I guess. It could have gone better I think, but just having that thought shows how far I’ve come in the past year. This was six minutes faster than my previous Double Full. I no longer have many opportunities to set personal bests in 2020, after doing so many times for most of the year. In many ways those were easy or even inevitable given all the time and miles I put in this year. Next year I don’t expect to see nearly this kind of improvement. I might even need to train for speed. What would a sub-30:00 Full Monty require? I might need to find out.

1010 For 2020

Excluding race goals, which all were upended anyway, I set two running goals this year. The second, which I have written about recently, was the Map Project in which I ran all the streets in Montpelier before the end of the pandemic. The first goal I set at the beginning of the year: run 1,010 miles before the year was out. 1010 For 2020.

I’m not certain exactly when I set the goal, because I was injured when the year started and not running. I may have waited until after the doctor said I could go ahead and do ease back into things. My injury started in my lower right leg just days after I signed up for the Mesa Half Marathon in November and, having already sunk a lot of money into plane tickets and the race itself, I was desperate to get going because the race was in early February. Once I got some assurance that I wasn’t likely to injure myself further – records show it was on January 6 – I started going.

Still, at this point I had run very little over the previous two months. I had to start with low mileage and somewhat rapidly ramp things up to be ready in five weeks. 6 miles, then 13, then 16. I joined the Winter Long Runs to build up my stamina. A six-mile run, then 8, then 10 the week before. By the end of the month I was at 48 miles. I needed to average 84/month to reach my goal. So that was way behind. Still, I only needed to run three extra miles per month to catch back up. That would be doable.

In February I ran the Half Marathon, then promptly got sick and didn’t run for ten days. (OK, there was also a ski weekend in Quebec in there, too.) By the time I was back on it, there were only ten days left in the month. Because that first week was fairly heavy, I still managed 56 miles, but I still ended the month 60 miles behind the pace. Still, I only needed to run six extra miles per month to catch back up. That would be doable.

At the beginning of March I was running in earnest. At that time I was planning to run the Unplugged Half Marathon in early April, as part of the training plan to be ready for the Vermont City Marathon half-and-half relay in May. And then the lockdown came and took away pretty much all other activity. Ski season came to an abrupt end. Running was all that was left. As I neared the end of March, I saw the opportunity to get to 100 miles for the month. That seemed a worthy goal, so I made it happen. The last day of March was on a Tuesday. I was planning a long run for the weekend, and by the time I got there I saw the opportunity to extend my route just a little bit so I could reach 30 miles for a week for the first time. So I did that, too.

March was the start of the trend. I needed to reduce my deficit by six miles, but I actually made back 14 miles, ending 46 miles behind the pace. I did not enter April with a 100-mile goal, but as I got to the end I saw the opportunity, so I made sure I did it again. Same in May. Same in June. by the end of the month I was at 506 miles, basically right where I needed to be.

By the time July came around, the miles were just coming organically. I was doing the CVR Participation Series races, and also embarking on the map project. The long summer days made it easy to log decent miles on a weeknight. I ended up running 111 miles in July, and started August off with a 15-miler. I was prepping for the Adamant Half Marathon in early September, so was getting in 25-30 miles per week. I ended up running 129 miles in August, finishing the month at 750 miles, or 75 ahead of pace. I would have to average just 65 miles per month the rest of the way to reach the goal. And with three half marathons yet to come, it would be easy-peasy barring injury.

Well, there has been no injury. The investment I put into the doctor visits and PT at the beginning of the year really paid off. I improved my form, got some orthotics to combat my overpronation, and listened to my body. It tells me that compression socks and knee wraps help on the long runs, and sometimes are necessary on the short runs too. I ran 115 in September and another 130 in October. That’s 8 straight 100-mile months. At the end of October I was just a few miles short of 1,000. I would be able to reach the goal early in the month.

Today was 1010 day. I wish I could say I had a special run picked out for it, but really I just looked for a loop that would get me to the 4.8 miles I needed. I ran in town, streets I’ve run dozens of times before. I went up Liberty Street to College, down Sabin to a hairpin on the bike path and back to Bailey Ave. Then around the State House and back up Elm St. to home. I didn’t mean for this to be a fast run, but I think I had some adrenaline and ran in about an 8:40 pace. Most general training is in the 9:00 neighborhood. After some cold temps and over a half a foot of snow earlier in the week, today’s temperatures reached the mid-60’s. It was shorts weather, and felt like spring all over again.

Of course I am not stopping now that I’ve reached my annual goal. There are still a couple of Fallen Leaves races, and next year to get ready for. I figure I should try for 1,200 miles for the year. With eight weeks remaining, that’s 25 per week. Of course there are holidays in there, and shorter days, and colder weather, and (hopefully) skiing. Due to our closed office, I don’t have access to the treadmills at work, so it’s onto the streets for the foreseeable future. The sidewalks are pretty crappy once the snow starts to fall, but I got some practice this week. It wasn’t so bad.

The other aspect to this is that by now I have already exceeded my total lifetime miles run prior to this year. I don’t have that tally, but it’s certainly less than 1,000. (I had less than 500 on Strava last year). My next goal could be to do that again, which would require me to run 2,000 miles next year. That’s ultra-runner territory. I don’t think that’s my thing. Then again, it wasn’t too long ago when I didn’t think this was my thing. So we’ll see. (Spoiler alert: I am not going to be an ultra runner.)

10/31/20 Autumn Onion, 11/1/20 Fallen Leaves 5K

Following the Unplugged Half Marathon, this week was destined to be a recovery week. It actually feels like we are moving into recovery months, as the days are short now and not conducive to longer running. As the snow and ice comes, the sidewalks will be treacherous. Last winter I put a lot of miles in on the treadmill, but that’s at the office, and I’m not going to the office any time soon.

I did manage to run almost every day the past week, mostly in the 3-4 mile range. This weekend the CVR Fall Virtual Race Series resumed with two races, the Autumn Onion Costume 5K (only open on Saturday and Sunday), and the first of three Fallen Leaves 5Ks (to be run between November 1 and November 7.

Katie and I had been talking about the Autumn Onion for several weeks. As I am sure I have mentioned before, Katie is easing her way back into running following a hip injury. She’s been building up the days and the miles for several weeks now, and was eager to enter another race.

When I did the Leaf Peepers Half Marathon a few weeks earlier, we chatted with our fiends Darrel and Cheryl, and they mentioned running the Autumn Onion together. Darrel messaged me the day before and asked if we wanted to run at 9:00 in the morning on Saturday. That seemed – kind of early for what was otherwise going to be a chill day. Especially since costumes were going to be involved. I talked him into 1:00 instead.

I’m not great with being creative for costumes, but last year I dressed up as Billy Idol, as my hair seems particularly well-suited to that look. The costume is pretty simple, lots of black, including a black leather jacket, with a studded collar and wrist band. I have some black Doc Martens boots, but thought running shoes would be better for this, so I wore my Nikes instead. Katie helped me with some eyeliner and I was good to go. For her part, Katie had a cat print outfit, some ears, and cat mask. She also had some eye makeup and was ready for the run.

We met Darrel and Cheryl, and their friends Mary Ellen and Jamie, in front of Onion River Outdoors a little after 1:00. After taking a few photos, we were off. The course was similar to the Capital City Stampede – out Court Street, in front of the Capitol, then down to the Bike Path off Bailey Avenue. After awhile we turned around and headed back, with a slightly different return on Taylor Street.

Except for the street crossings, this would ordinarily be a fast race. This was less so because of the costumes. It’s difficult to run in a heavy leather jacket. I wasn’t really thinking of this as a race, though. There is a prize for fastest male, but there’s no way I was going to be that, so instead I ran it as a fun run with Katie. We took off at a decent pace, and pulled away from the others pretty quickly, as one of their ranks was going to be very slow. For a cool, sunny fall day, the bike path wasn’t overly busy, and the running was easy. The jacket had me sweating a bit, but otherwise it was quite comfortable.

We stopped on the way back to take photos when we saw our friends coming our way, but otherwise had a bit of a rocking chair run. There was a little snafu at the very end, when muscle memory took me past Langdon Street, but we quickly corrected course and made it to the finish back in front of the store. Final time 29:04, not that it really mattered that much.

On Sunday morning Katie wanted to do another run, and since it was the first day to run the Fallen Leaves 5K she suggested we do that. Every year there are three iterations of the Fallen Leaves, each weekend at the start of November. Last year I ran all three and managed to improve my time each time despite deteriorating conditions. When we got to the high school, however, we found that we wouldn’t be able to run the course as required by the race series rules. Due to Covid-19 part of the route was fenced off for soccer practice, and teams were using the track and the fields.

Katie and I decided to improvise. The true course calls for a couple of laps on the HS track, then a jaunt across the fields to the bike path for a full-length out-and-back, then back to the track for the finish. Instead, Katie and I ran between athletic fields to the bike path and ran to the Bailey Avenue end before heading out toward Dog River. Because we would miss the half mile+ on the track, we ran past the end of the bike path to the railroad crossing on Junction Road, then we returned and finished on the other side of the school.

The convoluted start for the run got me out of “race” mode fairly early on. As Katie and I figured it out we stuck together again for the better part of a mile. At some point she said, given that she had run yesterday, she was going to take it easy and might even walk a portion, and that I should just go at my own pace. Part of me thought that was unnecessary, but part of me remembered my tradition of running this course faster each time. To do so again would require running an 8:20 pace. And with the first mile checking in at over 8:50, that wasn’t likely.

Still I picked up the pace for mile 2, and decided that at the very least I could go for a fast mile on the return on the bike path. It’s a Strava segment, and I knew if I could run it in under 8:00 I could at least get a PR for it.

I got to the turnaround at the Amtrak, and Katie was still keeping pretty close and looking good on her run. Mile 2 clicked just as I got to the bike path in 8:13, a much more respectable pace. Then I pushed as much as I felt I could. I was running under 8:00, which isn’t exactly a sprint, but it’s work to keep that up for a full mile, mostly because it’s a challenge to keep the focus on the pace. I’ve done enough long runs this year that I knew I had the stamina to keep it up. I didn’t spend a lot of time looking at my watch, because that’s a good way to lose pace, but when I did I was in the 7:45 – 7:50 pace, which was perfect. That mile was done in 7:47, which I knew was about 20 seconds faster than my previous best.

At that point I eased off a little for the final tenth of a mile, which ended right at the car. I grabbed a water bottle and jogged back to run Katie in. She was fairly close behind me, only about two minutes back. In the end my time was 25:58, which was faster than my best time last year, but the pace of 8:20 was a second too slow. Evidently the official race is just a bit longer. But I was happy with this run and my ability to pick up the pace considerably mid race. If I put my mind to it I feel like I should definitely be able to improve this time over the next two races, though I don’t know if I can really take aim at breaking 25:00 for a new PR by the time all is said and done. But it can’t hurt to try.

RACE SUMMARIES:

AUTUMN ONION
Distance: 5K
Time: 29:04
Pace: 9:23

FALLEN LEAVES #1
Distance: 5K
Time: 25:58 (PR for this race)
Pace: 8:20

10/24/20: Half Marathon Unplugged

After seven months of postponements and cancellations, and over 8 months following my last “live” event, the Half Marathon Unplugged offered the opportunity to go out and run a race in real time against more than a handful of other people. In the face of the ongoing pandemic, with cases on the rise across the planet, it was concerning and not concerning. It was ordinary and not ordinary. But it was well-organized and fun and gratifying to run.

Let’s talk about the “concerning” part. It will be obvious to the contemporary reader, but if you’ve stumbled across this post in, say, the year 2033, you may not remember. It’s now October 2020, and the planet has been gripped by the coronavirus Covid-19 for 8 months. In Vermont caseloads have been among the best, if not the best in the USA since this thing started, primarily due to the whole state taking the threat seriously and implementing protocols to reduce the risk of transmission. (And hopefully the reader in 2033 is thinking, “what the hell was wrong with the conservatives who didn’t want to wear masks to save lives?” But I digress…) And I have spent these long eight months engaging in very little risky behavior, limiting my in-person interactions with friends, family and co-workers. I’ve got my bubble with Katie. I have socially-distanced run once a week with Lauren and occasionally with Runderachievers. And most everything else is a one-off.

With that in my mind, I had some hesitance to engage in a real race. I did not know how many people were going to sign up, though this race has attracted 1,000 runners in the past. I had the option to defer my entry until next year, but decided to go ahead and attend. The current protocols call for gatherings limited to 150 people, which at first I thought meant how many runners could attend but in retrospect I realize that probably also included volunteers at the start/finish site at Waterfront Park in Burlington. The permits therefore called for the race to be spread out over eight flights, four flights each day over the weekend.

I signed up for flight four, the 11 am flight on Saturday. I chose flight four for two reasons: 1) because I figured in late October the lunchtime temperatures would be favorable for running, and 2) it would allow me to get out of bed at a normal time and still be able to eat breakfast before heading to Burlington. It turned out that there were two more benefits, 3) the morning rains had subsided by the time the race started, and 4) this was a less-popular flight. The park and start line were not at all crowded, and it was easy to maintain distance from the other runners.

I was feeling pretty good about my preparation for this race. I did a couple of long runs the weekends before hand, tapered during the week and took two full rest days prior to the race. As I mentioned earlier, I felt like the later starting time would allow me to have my normal oatmeal-and-toast breakfast, with the addition of a banana. (And coffee, which I don’t love before a race because it makes me pee.) Though she would not be able to provide on-course support, or even cheer me on at the start or (theoretically) the finish, Katie accompanied me so we could go out and celebrate afterward. As we were driving from Montpelier, I was questioning the wisdom of my breakfast choice, as it was sitting pretty heavily in my stomach.

We arrived in Burlington about 10:15 and were able to find a parking spot next to Waterfront Park. I got on site and had a “health screening” (basically a temperature check), then dropped my bag. It was chilly, temperatures in the low-50s and a cool, brisk breeze off Lake Champlain. There was a bag drop on site, but I had considered leaving my things in the car until I felt the air. I decided I was going to want extra layers of clothing both before and after the race, and took my backpack to the drop site, which was basically under a tree near the finish line. I did my stretching routine and then a half-mile warmup – back to the car where I had left my water bottles. Water wasn’t going to be a huge need in these conditions, but I also had ibuprofen and shot blocks stashed in the belt. The shot blocks give a boost of energy, and the ibuprofen helps dull the pain that I inevitably feel in my hips and glutes on these long runs.

Shortly after I finished my warmup, while I was still dicking around with my stuff, the host called us to the start line. I got there at the back of the pack, which wasn’t all that large. Maybe 50 people? The starter sent us off, but my watch was still looking for a satellite connection. No big deal, this was a chip-timed race, so the extra time before I reached the start line was no penalty. Soon enough my watch buzzed and I was off.

It’s a simple course with a weird start. At first we ran south through the park, to the roundabout next to the Echo Center, which we circled and headed up the bike path. Then we took a hairpin turn onto Lake Street, back to the roundabout, and back heading north on the bike path for the next five miles into Colchester. In Colchester there are a couple of loops through residential neighborhood, encompassing two miles of running, before we head back south on the bike path to the finish. The whole thing is very flat, to the extent that the motto is “No hills, no frills.”

The field spread out pretty quickly after the start, and I passed a number of other runners in that first zig-zaggy mile. I was a little concerned when I passed two fit-looking guys on Lake Street, as they were engaged in conversation and looking like they were pretty smooth runners. I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw them again before all was said and done.

I checked my watch and I was going a little fast, about 8:15/mile. After running the hilly Adamant Half Marathon in 2:00+, and the less-hilly Leaf Peepers in 1:57+, I thought breaking 1:55:00 would be a good goal for this race. That would require an 8:45 pace, so I needed to slow down lest I burn myself out too early. I hit the one-mile mark in 8:33, a little speedy but nothing to be concerned with.

Shortly after that first mile marker, coming in the other direction I saw a guy who I knew (based on his bib number) had started in the 10:00 flight. It was CVR member George Aitken, and he maybe had a mile to go. I figured he was on track to break 1:20 for this race. (In fact, he was the overall winner in 1:16:something.) This became the entertainment for awhile, to check out the bib numbers of runners coming in the opposite direction. It was a mix of the fast runners from the 10:00 flight and the slower runners from the 9:00 a.m. flight. The bike path remained open for this race, so there were many many other (non-racing) runners, walkers and cyclists using the path. And yet things never got crowded.

The bike path goes through the New North End of Burlington and along the beaches. There are a few street crossings and a lot of adjacent neighborhoods, including one that a friend of mine lives in. It was sport to try to identify the houses I recognized. All the street crossings had volunteers as crossing guards. I try to make a point to than all the volunteers when I see them, as I am truly grateful that they take the time to help make for a fun and safe event for all. I realized that I have been missing those interactions in all the virtual races I’ve run this year.

My little flight created a small race of its own. Once things thinned out a bit, Tall Guy passed me, then he passed Green Shirt Woman. Nobody else was really in sight at the moment. Green Shirt Woman was running a good pace, but I finally overtook her about four miles in. Shortly thereafter I had some ibuprofen and a shot block to keep me going. There was a water station coming up (mile 5?), but given the safety requirements in place, they were only giving out bottled water. I had plenty of that already.

The miles were ticking by with all my splits under 8:45. Things were going well, even though the whole thing felt slightly uphill to me. At 5.5 miles we crossed into Colchester, and things got a little confusing. Here the downside of the small field came into play, as we were rounding corners and Tall Guy was kind of out of sight. He had passed Gray Shirt Woman, who also was too far ahead to keep in view all the time. There weren’t course monitors at every street crossing, but I kept doing what made sense, and there were just enough people to keep me in line. I also finally noticed the bright green directional arrows they had painted on the pavement. Still, the combination of a little elevation gain and the extra thought involved in making sure I wasn’t lost slowed me down. Miles 7 and 8 came in at a couple seconds over 9:00 each. This was still keeping me comfortably in PR territory, and I was still ahead of my 1:55 pace, but I didn’t want to get complacent. Green Shirt Woman was still close behind me, and I did not want to give up my spot to her.

As I got to the bridge back into Burlington I had my last shot block and more ibuprofen. After this it was a matter of just pressing on. If the way out was slightly uphill (it really hadn’t been), the way back would be slightly downhill (also not true). But I was able to get the pace back under 8:50, which would be critical for me to meet my goal. Most importantly, I knew that my body would handle the distance, it was just a matter of making sure my heart and lungs didn’t get overtaxed in the process. And this pace wasn’t likely to do that.

Over the last 2-3 miles things started to happen. Tall Guy had pulled away, but I was steadily catching up to Gray Shirt Woman. I also started to hear some guys talking behind me. It was the two men I passed way back in mile one, who indeed were running really strongly and cruised past me. As they pulled away, Gray Shirt Lady Passed The Girl With the “R” on Her Shirt, who I recognized from the parking lot before the race. “R” had slowed considerably, and I passed her as I was still gaining on Gray Shirt. My splits were back up to where they had been at the start, and I passed Gray with about a mile to go.

That last mile was the fastest yet. I caught another person who I hadn’t seen at all before, then another runner who I recognized from going out as being at the tail end of Wave 3. I was recalling Lauren’s words from Adamant, “remember, this is a race. It’s supposed to hurt.” I wasn’t looking at my watch at this point, but I ran that mile in 8:29. Around the 13-mile mark I spotted Katie up ahead. She had come out to shout encouragement and run me to the finish line. I’m sure having her there allowed me to step up the pace just a little more. She split off as I ran to the finisher’s corral, and I clicked my watch in 1:54:42. I discovered my bib time was even faster, 1:54:34. A new PR by almost 2 1/2 minutes.

This race went pretty much exactly according to plan, and I really feel like I ran as fast as I could have. Conditions were really ripe for a PR given the temperature that didn’t require a lot of hydration, and so I wasn’t walking to take on water at the aid stations. (And I didn’t take a pee break in the middle, either.) I was sufficiently sore at the end that I didn’t feel like I could have pushed it much faster. Sometimes during the summer “training” didn’t feel like a fun objective, but it certainly paid off on race day for the last few runs of the year. This was my last half marathon of 2020. I ran six in total, two of which were live races, and reduced my PR four times in the process, for a total of 21 minutes from my first half marathon a year ago.

So I’m at a point, with two months left in 2020, where almost all of my goals have been met. I’ve lowered my PRs in every distance and every race, I finished the Map Project, and I am about 40 miles from reaching the distance goal I set at the beginning of the year. There are a few more fun run/virtual races through November, and then what?

After the race I bumped into our club president, Manny, who also was in my flight. (He beat me by about half a minute, though I never saw him the whole race.) He said the club is looking at how to return to live races in 2021, maybe starting with the New Years Eve 5K in Montpelier. That will be here before you know it. Then I guess we start all over again!

RACE SUMMARY:
Distance: Half Marathon
Time: 1:54:34 (PR)
Pace: 8:44
Place: 181/423
Age Group: 10/27
CVR Points: N/A

10/22/20: Completing the Map Project

I’ve mentioned a couple of times previously that at some point this summer I landed on a goal of running every street in Montpelier before the quarantine or the year 2020 ended, whichever comes first. (I’ve got my money on 2020 in that bet.)

After I first made the decision, I started filling in the map by adding side streets to some of my regular runs. But since most of the Montpelier city streets aren’t on my normal routes, it wasn’t long before I had to do runs that were intentionally planned to cover new territory. And as I soon learned, planning was very important to both make sure nothing would be left out and to be somewhat efficient with the miles. Well into the project one of my co-workers informed me that there are 62 miles of streets in Montpelier. It would take a lot more miles of running to complete the project, however.

I began to include Map Runs (as I came to call them) in the mix with all my virtual races and my trail runs in the woods. During the heat of high summer running on pavement doesn’t have a great deal of appeal. As the summer began to wind down, however, my race schedule included some half marathons. Longer races call for longer training runs, which would be a great way to incorporate more streets.

Following my Hill Street run on Indigenous People’s Day, I was left with one more significant section of the map to fill in, Berlin Street and its side neighborhoods. I finished this last Sunday as part of an 8-mile run to prep for the half marathon coming up this weekend. That meant one small puzzle piece remained: Shamrock Lane, a little side road just three houses down from my front door. I decided that I would do that as a standalone run, and what better time to finish than on one of my rest days before the race.

So today after work, I changed my clothes, laced up my shoes, and prepped for my run. Katie wanted to join me, so she came over and hopped on Townie Bike. After waiting for a bunch of cars to pass, we were off. In no time we reached Shamrock, just 0.07 miles into the run. We turned left and headed up the road until it started to really feel like a driveway, at which point we turned around and headed back. Soon we were in front of the house again, and I clicked off my watch. I completed the full 0.26 miles in 2:17, a respectable 8:47 pace.

Some trivia, highlights and observations from my adventures about town:

SHORTEST RUN: Today’s Shamrock Lane run, 0.26 miles, 2:17 time.
LONGEST RUN: Main Street – Towne Hill – Gallison Hill – bike path and associated side streets. 15.75 miles, 2:43:40 time. Both are my longest-ever so far. 1,650 of elevation gain is probably the most I’ve accrued in one run as well.

HIGHEST POINT ON A MONTPELIER STREET: Gidney Road, a side road off North Street just on this side of the East Montpelier border, tops out just under 1,100 feet.
LOWEST POINT ON A MONTPELIE STREET: All of in-town Montpelier next to the river is at low elevation, so I can’t say for sure, but to my best estimation based on Strava GPS data the low point on a street is likely some point on State Street/Route 2 just before the Middlesex town line, at a little under 520 feet. There are points on the bike path on the other side of the river that are probably a few feet lower.
OTHER MEMBERS OF THE 1,000-FOOT CLUB: Chestnut Hill Road, Westwood Drive, Murray Road and Bliss Road (all off Towne Hill Road); Murray Hill Drive (same area, off Main Street); Hill Street near the Berlin Border; and North Street at the base of Gidney Road. The highest elevation I reached in any of my runs was the highest point on North Street in East Montpelier, which is about 1,400 feet.

LONGEST CLIMB: Both North Street and Terrace Street are approximately 1.4 miles of sustained climbing. There is a bit more elevation gain on North Street. Main Street and Hill Street get honorable mentions for climbs more than one mile before you reach the town line.
STEEPEST CLIMB: Hard to say. There are a lot of steep hills in Montpelier. I would guess one of the side roads on the southern or western edges of Hubbard Park. But there are a lot.

LONGEST STREET: Elm Street runs over three miles within the city limits, but I live on Elm Street and therefore have never had reason to run the full length end to end. This is also the longest flat stretch within city limits.
SHORTEST, MOST POINTLESS STREET: Veo Road, which is shorter than the average driveway outside of downtown. It took me less than 30 seconds for the “out-and-back” on Veo Road.

YOU CAN’T GET THERE FROM HERE, PART 1: There are two streets that can’t be accessed from another street in Montpelier, and therefore necessitate a run outside the city limits. Maplewood Avenue is a dead end off Towne Hill Road in East Montpelier that stretches across the Montpelier town line. The other is the part of Horn of the Moon Road that stretches across the Wrightsville Dam. The road starts in Middlesex and is mostly in East Montpelier, but for about a tenth of a mile it’s in the City of Montpelier.
YOU CAN’T GET THERE FROM HERE, PART 2: Toy Town, across from the Dairy Creme and tucked between Route 2 and I-89 next to the Middlesex border, is oddly detached from the rest of the city. I’ve never been up the hill to Overlook Drive, and I would not be surprised if I never find a reason to return.

FAVORITE DOG: It was also the only one to really encroach on my physical space, but a Yellow Lab on Dyer Avenue named Butter. So chosen because of the name Butter.

The Map Project was a fun way to bring some interest into my running for the summer, and also a good way to learn about the city that I live in. For such a small, dense city, there are a lot of really rural neighborhoods that feel completely different from the rest of the town.

10/12/20 Training Update

It is mid-October, the leaves have turned here in Vermont and are dropping to the ground. Suddenly it feels like this strange running season is coming to a close, and it will close similarly to the way it opened, with an “in-person” half marathon. Of course, we weren’t qualifying races as “in person” back in February when I flew out to Phoenix for the Sprouts Mesa Half Marathon. That was business as usual a short eight months ago.

And also of course, even with under two weeks to go, we can’t be 100% sure that this race will actually take place in person. It is true that the Covid-19 infection rate is low in Vermont. It is also true that, with this virus, things can get out of hand quickly. If I were to bet I’d put money on it happening, but who knows? Fingers crossed!

Outside the Half Marathon, there are a handful of races sponsored by CVR that fall more into the “fun run” category. In November there are the Fallen Leaves 5Ks, and since those are on a flat, fast course I might make an effort to get my PR further below 25:00. But honestly, as I sit here today, I feel like I’ve met all the goals I could have possibly set for myself this year, in terms of race times. I cut almost a minute and a half off my 5K PR, and a full 18 minutes off that for a half marathon. I lowered my times for every distance and every race. Granted, last year was my first year for almost everything, but I’ve still made great progress. I am still training seriously for the Unplugged Race in Burlington on October 24, with hopes of bringing that PR down another minute or two.

It’s not just the race season that is wrapping up. I am 95 miles short of my 1,010 goal for the year. Given my monthly average in excess of 100 miles per month since the quarantine started, there’s a very good chance that I will get close to 1,200 miles for the year. Likewise, the Map Project is nearing the end. I have one big run remaining up Berlin Street and all its tributaries, and then just two other short stretches that will be easy to bag. I expect that to be done in November if not before.

Last week was a light week following the Leaf Peepers Half Marathon. Light in a relative sense, as I ran 22 miles. That would have been a heavy week at the beginning of 2020. I did a variety of runs: a flat in-town shakeout; a 7-miler to run Easy Street (its real name), which is a glorified driveway that I missed on my long Towne Hill Run; and a jaunt through the North Branch Park trails up to Sparrow Farm Road, to take advantage of a gorgeous Fall Friday. Both Easy Street and Sparrow Farm brought significant elevation gain. The Sparrow Farm Trail has probably the steepest climbing in town. I have yet to go up it without a fair amount of walking.

After a day of Mountain Biking on Saturday, Katie and I topped off the week by running a four-mile virtual Heady Trotter race at Sodom Pond. Since I wasn’t exactly rested, and since I had run the Sodom Pond virtual race two weeks earlier, and since Katie is still rehabbing her hip and getting back into shape and I wanted to run with her, I didn’t approach this as a race. It was fun to take the pressure off myself, and snap a couple of photos on another gorgeous fall afternoon, and act as cheerleader and pace car for Katie on her run. We did the whole thing in 37 minutes, about a 9:16 pace. It’s fun to be the “faster” runner in this relationship, but I know when her hip is fixed and she’s back in running shape that she will be kicking my butt on the regular!

This weekend I wanted to do one more long run prior to the Half Marathon, before tapering next weekend. Today is Indigenous People’s Day, a holiday from work, and the weather was perfect for a long run. (And given the forecast tomorrow, that will be a perfect rest day following a long run.) Blustery winds, but sunny and temperatures in the low-50’s made for a comfortable time of it.

Less comfortable was the route. There is one big section of Montpelier that I hadn’t touched, Berlin Street, as mentioned above, and Hill Street, which wraps around Berlin down to the River Road and back, with a few side roads to pick up as well. And with a name like Hill Street, expect there to be hills.

(OK, that’s not necessarily true. My childhood home was on a Hill Street – it still is, actually – and let’s just say that the definition of “hill” is different in Montpelier, Vermont than it is in South Paris, Maine.)

I started my run today at the office and had a half-mile warmup before getting to the bottom of Hill Street. That’s not really enough to really prepare for the next part, which is a 500-foot climb over the next mile. That’s nearly a 10% grade, which is pretty steep. This took me into Berlin, where I was to run across Stewart Road back to Paine Turnpike and then back down to Montpelier. I was grateful that Stewart Road started with a nice downhill, but I could also see that it was going to go back uphill for another 100-foot climb before peaking out.

From the Peak on Stewart, the next three miles are mostly downhill, save for a couple of side streets. After taking Sherwood Drive and its side streets (Robinhood Circle and Forest Drive. No sign of the Sheriff of Nottingham, though), it was down to River Road, for a mostly flat run back to the office, where I had started.

I say mostly flat, because at the 7.5-mile mark I reached Baldwin Street, the first of three short side streets (including Taplin and Scribner Streets) that I dubbed “Satan’s Trident.” Maybe that was a function of having been running for over an hour, but each of these streets is a little over a football field long and gains 50 feet in that stretch. That doesn’t seem like much when put to paper, but they were the three steepest hills on the run.

After finishing the Trident it was about a mile back to the car. I was checking my watch and it appeared my run would come in at nine miles. That was a much-less satisfying number to me than a nice round ten, so I kept running to make that happen. At least it was flat.

I feel like things are lining up very well for the Half Marathon. That course is supposed to be flat, and despite my protestations I recognize that the investment in hill running has really paid dividends. Given the 10-mile start, I’ll probably get to 25 for this week and then taper out before the race. With any luck, a 1:55 half marathon time might be in the offing.

10/4/20: Leaf Peepers Half Marathon

Three races in one week probably isn’t the best way to go about setting personal records, even for someone who hasn’t been running all that long. But, as discussed in my last entry, in lining my training up for a real half marathon in a few weeks, it made sense for me to take on a virtual half marathon on Sunday, just three days after a virtual 5K that covered part of the same course.

On Sunday morning, the first day eligible for the running of the Virtual Leaf Peepers half marathon, I returned to the campus of the Vermont State Offices in Waterbury. I had originally planned to arrive at 9:30 for a 10:00 start but, as regular readers of this blog will recognize is not unusual, that did not happen. Katie, who once again graciously agreed to be my rolling aid station, and I left Montpelier at 9:30, and arrived in Waterbury a little before 10:00.

As we were approaching the state office complex I recognized two familiar forms running down Main Street – my friends Darrel and Cheryl. I was aware that they had already run the 5K here, so I concluded that they were here running the half marathon as well. After we parked I recognized a few other familiar CVR runners, some of whom had just completed the 5K, and a couple of others who were about to start the marathon. It was a party!

After chatting a bit, I embarked on my new strategy of getting warmed up prior to starting the run. As I was on my lap, the others all took off except for Donna, who was going to ride out and flag the turnaround point on the course. I felt good warming up; it was only .8 miles but I was doing a 9:00 pace and that felt really comfortable. This was no doubt related to my other new strategy of taking two full rest days between the 5K and this run. I was ready to go. At 10:30 Katie sounded the virtual starters gun and I was off.

The 9:00 warmup pace was significant, because my goal for this run was to try to keep my pace under 9:00, which would lead to a race time of 1:58, or two minutes faster than my time for the Adamant half marathon a month earlier. Given the course, which while by no means flat is much less hilly than Adamant, this seemed like a reasonable goal to me. It’s a simple course that incorporates the full 5K loop, but at 2.2 miles instead of crossing the bridge back into Waterbury you embark on a 5-mile out-and-back on the River Road in Duxbury. The resultant map looks like a sperm.

After sending me off Katie hopped on her bike and rode in front of me for a little bit. The plan was for her to feed me some Gatorade at mile 4.2 and again at Camels Hump Road on the return, at 8.4 miles. She had tunes going on Pandora piped through a portable JBL speaker, which was festive. After we crossed the river on Route 2 and got to the intersection of Route 100, Katie gave a little wave and road off ahead of me. The only problem here was that, instead of taking the next turn onto Duxbury’s Main Street, she kept going straight. The only other problem was that she was too far ahead, and the music was too loud, for her to hear me yelling for her to turn. And I was definitely yelling much louder than is the norm for me. I don’t normally yell.

I contemplated for a moment turning off my watch and trying to sprint to flag her down, but I didn’t want to mess up my run just a mile in. As I turned onto Main Street I managed to send a text without really breaking stride, and then I didn’t worry about it. There are only a couple of different ways to go, none of which involve a river. Plus her phone has a map on it. “She’ll figure it out,” I told myself. Besides, with temps in the 50s at race time I felt like I was carrying enough water to sustain myself even if she didn’t catch up with me.

The first couple of miles were encouraging. I didn’t feel like I was taxing myself at all, and my splits were 8:50 and 8:40. Though the first half of the course is generally downhill, this part was basically flat. There would be more opportunities for speed later on.

Somewhere down on River Road Donna came past me on the bike and asked how I was doing. I told her about Katie missing the turn, maybe half hoping she would turn around and track Katie down, but she did not do that. “She’ll figure it out,” she told me. But as I approached the first aid station spot, Katie was still nowhere to be found. I thought she would have figured it out by now, but I guess not.

Well, actually she had. At the moment she was bearing down on me as fast as she could go. Just a few tenths of a mile later she sped past me and said “aid station up ahead.” She then hopped off her bike and got out the Gatorade. I walked with her a few moments as we both agreed she had taken a wrong turn, then gave her a kiss and headed off. Katie rode ahead and stopped a couple of times to take photos and videos.

Meanwhile, the race. There’s not much to say about River Road. It’s paved for a bit then turns to gravel. Rolling hills along the river. It’s quite lovely, especially in the fall. There is beautiful foliage, farms, and some wonderful river views, some of them with fly fishermen waist-deep in the current for good measure. And speaking of good measure, my splits continued to be favorable, all in the 8:40s. Mile six is the biggest net downhill of the race, and I ran that in 8:31. I didn’t want to get overconfident, given the length of the race and the fact I needed to go back uphill on the return, but 1:58 was already feeling like a done deal and my stretch goal of 1:55 might be on the table.

Darrel and Cheryl were also on my mind. I knew that they would be slow. Based on their times in Adamant, I figured they would run this race in about 2:45. I also figured they had about a 40-minute head start. If I could indeed run this in 1:58, I would catch them shortly before the end. But that also meant I should see them soon, as I was approaching the turnaround.

The first person I saw (other than all the other random runners and cyclists on the road) was George Aiken, a speedy guy in his 20’s. He ran last year’s race in 1:17, finishing in second place. He came ripping along, shirtless and flying. This was a little after I passed Camel’s Hump Road, which would be the aid station on the way back. A bit later I came upon Cheryl and Darrel, at about the 6.4 mile mark, meaning I was only a mile and a half behind them by now. And a little bit later was George’s mother Nina, who told me the turnaround was just ahead and marked with orange on a tree and on the road.

The turnaround is at 7.2 miles, which I reached in 1:03. For reference, this was 11 minutes faster than my pace last year. (Granted, the goal for last year’s Leaf Peepers was to get to the finish line. I am in much better shape this year.) With 6 miles left, if I could maintain 9:00 or better splits, I’d finish in 1:57. The 1:55 target seemed unlikely by now, so I figured I could take a moment to empty my bladder.

Sometimes after a stop my legs get into a different mindset. It’s surprising how quickly this can happen. After I resumed running, I suddenly was feeling the miles I had put on, and for the first time the pace didn’t feel “easy.” Luckily this part of the course is flat, though it starts to go uphill to Camel’s Hump Road and continues to be flat/uphill for the next 3.5 miles.

Because of the pee break, mile 8 took just less than 9:30, my first split above the 9:00 target. And mile 9, with the second water break, took 9:10. No matter, I still had at least a minute banked. At this point Katie was riding along a little ahead of me, keeping me company, occasionally taking photos and video, and offering words of encouragement on all the hilly bits. “Looking strong! You’ve got this!” It was nice. For my part, I was calling off each of the mile markers. “Ten miles, just 5K remaining!” And of note, the splits were back in the 8:50s. Slower than the first half, but on the right side of 9:00 minute miles.

Also of note, but not in my consciousness, is that I really was still running just as fast as the first half. Strava has a feature that calculates your Grade Adjusted Pace (GAP), which translates your time as if you are running on flat ground. And upon reviewing the data later, my GAP times were in the 8:40s during this stretch, which was only a few seconds slower than the first part of the race.

With about two miles left we spotted Darrel and Cheryl rounding a corner ahead of us. It was time for race mode. We were gaining on them quickly, and passed them with a mile and a half. This is followed by the final climb to the course’s high point, just before the turn onto the Winooski Street bridge for the final run through the corn field to the office complex. As with the 5K, this was the worst part of the race for me, which I suppose should be the case for the last mile of a race. I was at least mentally prepared for the poor footing on the grassy path, having run it just days earlier, but it was still not comfortable.

It’s a half mile of this crap before getting back onto the pavement. As with the 5K, the 13.11 mile mark came before the finish line. It turns out that this is a long course which extends 13.25 miles. My watch read 1:55:something when I officially reached half marathon distance, not quite my stretch goal but still pretty impressive. I reached my fastest pace of the race over the final tenth, and clicked the stop button at 1:57:12. My third half-marathon PR of the year. (Which, okay, I had only run one before this year.)

I’ve been establishing stretch goals over my past few races in order to ensure I hit my best possible time for the race, as earlier in the summer it felt like I was setting achievable goals and then managing to them. My number one objective for this race was to go under two hours, and I did that by better than three minutes (if you don’t count the pee break!). Additionally, I beat my previous time for this course by a full 18 minutes. What a great measure of how much progress I’ve made over the course of the last year. I am already looking forward to next year’s race, which hopefully will have a few more people running on the same day!

RACE SUMMARY:
Distance: Half Marathon
Time: 1:57:12
Pace: 8:50

10/1/20: Leaf Peepers Virtual 5K

The second race in the CVR fall virtual series is the Leaf Peepers 5K. The design of this series is that participants have a two-week window around the originally-scheduled date to complete the race. However, since the Leaf Peepers has both a 5K and a half marathon, the schedule for these two was stretched out to avoid total overlap.

The Leaf Peepers half marathon is the only long race in this series. The others, aside from the four mile Sodom Pond race, are all 5Ks. Thus, the half is the only one that requires anything in the way of planning from a training standpoint. And the fact that I am running a “real” half marathon on October 25 impacts the planning of the Leaf Peepers run. In consultation with Lauren, I determined that I should run on the first eligible day, Sunday October 4, giving me three weeks to recover before the next one.

October 4 is smack in the middle of the 5K window, which started on September 27 and runs to October 11. The location (Waterbury) is close enough to get to after work, and since I rather enjoy having my weekends free, I decided I would do this during the week. So, before or after the half marathon? At first I was thinking after, but following Monday’s Corporate Cup race I had a desire to get my 5K time down. The Leaf Peepers course is fairly flat, and good for running a fast time. I decided that I would be better off trying for a PR in an otherwise light week prior to the half marathon, than as a recovery run following. I also figured that, with two days of rest planned, a midweek 5K at race pace would not imperil my half marathon, in which I also hope to lower my PR.

Speaking of rest, I recently discovered that one of the perks of my Strava subscription is a feature that measures my fitness (based on my workouts), fatigue (based on my rest), and “form,” which is based on the other two. High fitness and low fatigue equals better form. And in looking at where my races have fallen on the graph…I’ve not done a real good job of being in top form for them. Primarily due to fatigue, as that metric goes down a lot faster than the fitness one on rest days. The best form score I’ve had prior to a race is 18, just before the Adamant Half Marathon. That race was both a physical struggle and, by five minutes, my fastest half marathon. We might be on to something here.

As it turns out, my form score coming into today’s race was 9. That’s not stellar, but I’ve had much lower. The other thing that I planned for today was a proper warmup. Too often I skip a good warmup when running with friends, because we are chatting and it doesn’t feel much like a “real” race. I get my stretches in, but I don’t usually run to get the heart and lungs warmed up. And since the first mile of a run is usually the most difficult, that means my race starts with the worst mile.

The Leaf Peepers race starts and ends at the Vermont State office building in Waterbury. This was formerly a state psychiatric hospital, and there is a big campus. After stretching I decided to do two laps around the campus. As it turns out, one lap is 3/4 of a mile. I stopped the second lap after a total of 1.25 miles, then walked to the start line to do some final stretches before firing the virtual starters gun.

I mentioned above that I wanted to lower my 5K time. Most of my 5K races this summer have finished within a small window of 25:35 to 25:45. Ultimately I’d like to get that below 25:00, and though I’ve not been unhappy with those times this summer, I’ve also not been getting closer to 25:00. Today, with a flat course and a good warmup, I set out to do just that. It would require a pace of 8:00, which is a full ten seconds faster than my record. It doesn’t sound like much, but those seconds can be hard to come by.

The course itself is pretty simple. It starts on the horseshoe drive on the campus, takes a right on Main St. in Waterbury, which crosses the river into Duxbury. Right on Main Street Duxbury, then right on the River Road. After 2.2 miles, right onto the bridge on Winooski Street, then follow the Cross Vermont Trail bike path through a cemetery and a corn field before returning to the State Office complex for a finish just after the start line. The final part of my plan was to try not to go out too fast: 8:10 for the first mile and 8:00 pace the rest of the way. By my calculations, that would get me just under 25:00. The first few times I checked at the beginning my watch said I was running at an 8:00 pace. I didn’t feel like I was straining, but I wanted to slow it down regardless and stick to the plan. I found a good pace of 8:05 – 8:10. It’s not really perceptible, but the course is ever so slightly uphill at this point. It peaks out just at the turn to River Road, nearly a mile from the start.

This is significant, because it means that the next mile-plus is generally downhill. Shortly after the turn onto River Road, mile one beeped on my watch at 8:06, which was a little faster than my plan had called for. I found myself running at a sub-8:00 pace on the next mile, sometimes as low as 7:40, taking advantage of the downhills. As with mile one, this didn’t feel overly taxing. And let’s face it, I need all those long runs to pay off with the confidence that I can push it on the shorter runs. So I went with it. My split for mile 2 was 7:53. I was ahead of pace.

After the second mile marker is the steepest climb of the race. That’s relative, of course, and it doesn’t last long, ending at the turn onto the bridge. Still, it was the first slow section on the course. Then it’s downhill some more until the low point at the edge of the corn field. After that it’s flat until a small grade as you rejoin the campus. Alongside the cornfield should be a fairly fast section to run, but I was having a little trouble with the terrain. It’s mostly a mowed grass path, but with a narrow rut from cyclists riding along. The grass was difficult to get a grip on, and the rut meant that footing wasn’t completely level. That, along with the fatigue associated with pushing a fast pace for longer than I am accustomed to, made this mile more of a mental struggle.

The pavement returned with a little over 1/10 of a mile remaining. The three mile mark clicked at 24:08, leaving me 52 seconds to run a tenth of a mile. That’s about 8 minutes/mile. It was time to get it done. I don’t remember having a lot of sprint in me, but I had enough. I hit the 3.1 mile mark at 24:58. Mission accomplished!

I’ve been saying all along that one benefit of these virtual races is that they have allowed my to improve my strategy so I can be faster when the real racing begins. And that has been true up to a point. I’ve definitely not been building an ideal amount of rest into my schedule, but now that I’ve discovered the Form and Fitness charts, that will change. (Projected Form score for my half marathon on Sunday is 25, an all-time high!) The next step is to be more intentional about training for speed. Sure I do hills here and build in sprints there, but I’ve been reading and it could definitely be more structured. I managed to cut over a minute off my 5K PR this year mostly by virtue of running a lot and being in shape. I have a feeling that dropping the next minute will need more of a plan.

RACE SUMMARY:
Distance: 5K
Time: 24:58 (PR)
Pace: 8:01 (Strava timing)

9/28/20: Virtual Corporate Cup

Ah, the Corporate Cup. My first race. My favorite race.

As with everything else, the 2020 Corporate Cup was postponed to September from its originally-scheduled date in May. Then, as summer arrived, it became apparent that we would not be able to safely have a 4,000-person event in downtown Montpelier in the midst of the ongoing pandemic, so the organizers followed the lead of so many other races and changed this year’s race to a virtual one.

The Corporate Cup has always been an important staff culture event at my workplace, and we wanted to continue the tradition this year. The virtual race rules called for participants to complete a 5K on any course of their choosing, including a treadmill, alone or with others (as currently allowed), sometime in September. Because everybody would be running different courses under different circumstances, there would be no official team competition this year. However I organized our office and suggested that we have our own competition, and I grouped interested participants together in what I hoped would be equitable teams.

Though staff are disbursed throughout the region, and all have different work priorities, a bunch of folks in Montpelier expressed interest in getting together and running the official course through the city. So we opened up that idea to all participants, which resulted in six of us (out of nine total runners) gathering at 5:30 on a warm late-September evening.

The runners for the virtual race were co-workers Gus, Jack, Tom, Lynn, Lauren (my running buddy) and me. Based on the 2019 results, I expected to be behind Gus, Jack and Lauren, and ahead of Tom and Lynn. Of course there are some wild cards there, as (other than Lauren), I had no idea what kind of running anybody had done. And as we gathered at the start I realized a problem with my team groupings – almost nobody had a watch or even phone to track their time. The integrity of that competition was going to be in question.

We took off as a group and stayed as a pack for the first quarter mile or so. Gus, Tom and Jack were at the front, with Lauren a step behind, me another step behind, and Lynn yet another step behind. The start, as is usual for this race, was a little fast, with a pace under 8:00. My goal for this race was to be under 26:00, something I expected to accomplish in May but failed pretty spectacularly. That’s an 8:23 pace, though, which I thought should be pretty easy to meet. My stretch goal was to stay with Lauren as long as possible in hopes of breaking 25:00, though I’ve never been within 30 seconds of that goal and this course, while not overly hilly, has a lot of turns and street crossings and isn’t overly fast.

This sub-8:00 pace was more than fast enough, but also not something I figured I could sustain, so I slowed down to a more-appropriate pace and let the others pull ahead a little. I figured in the long run I would at least catch Tom, who ran a 28:00 last year (vs. my 27:00) and was going to be due for a fade in the second half.

What ended up happening after I slowed down was that everybody else kind of slowed down, too. Once we crossed over to Elm Street, avoiding the first potential interruption due to traffic, everyone had slowed considerably to something in the 8:30 range. Nobody was going to break 26:00 at this rate. So I made a move and pulled ahead of the pack for a short while. That woke the other folks up, and they passed me again shortly thereafter. The first mile beeped on my watch in a time of 8:05, which was a really good start all things considered.

Historically the second mile of this race has been a problem for me. I’m not sure why, unless it’s a correction for me going out too fast, as it seems like I am always feeling low on energy. There are a lot of turns as we wind through the Meadow, and a couple of small hills, but I don’t think those should drag me down. Still, just short of halfway in, I found myself in the same place, questioning how much I would be able to push myself. It’s kind of frustrating to feel this way, because I know very well that I can run much longer than 5 kilometers, so stamina should not be an issue. But I was feeling the heat – mid 70’s and humid – and when we turned back onto Pearl Street I took a short walking break to take some water.

We exited the Meadow and headed back down Elm Street. Gus was at the front, and Tom was still with him. It turns out that Tom’s fitness level for this race was much improved from last year, as he (like me) has been running a lot this summer. He never did fade. But unexpectedly, Jack did start to slow. Lauren passed him on Elm, and I was gaining ground. Shortly after we turned onto Court Street, on another of the little hills, I was able to pass Jack as well. He wasn’t making happy sounds, so it looked like I would still end up in fourth place regardless.

Before that big move, the two mile mark buzzed. I had done that in 8:28, which was slower than I wanted but still acceptable given the speed of mile one. I figured I would be able to finish strong, given the little downhill and flat sprint at the end. I was also hoping to speed it up on mile three, but that never really happened to any significant degree. There’s a slight down grade on the bike path, but I had to force myself to push the pace and make up ground, as it wasn’t coming naturally.

As I turned on to Bailey Avenue, I started to gain ground on Lauren. That was because she was stuck at a traffic light and had to stop. She was able to go again before I reached her though, but I was lucky to have the crossing signal in my favor. After this street crossing is the last bit of uphill on the course, up Bailey and then more after we turn onto Baldwin. I was so close to the end at this point, but I had to slow down to a fast walk and take on some more water. After a few seconds I was off running, and I found that extra gear as I crested the hill and started downhill. I had my best pace and form of the run on the home stretch on State Street. The finish line was supposed to be the center walkway in front of the Capitol building, but my watch didn’t agree and I h adto go past for another .1 mile. When I clicked my watch at 3.1, the time read 25:44.

Jack was about a minute behind me to the finish, and Lynn came in a few minutes later. She looked fresher than the rest of us at the end. Afterward we sat on the State House lawn to drink beer and catch up. Most of us hadn’t seen each other in several months, and it was nice to have something feel normal again, even if “normal” doesn’t really feel normal any longer.

This bested my goal by 16 seconds, and my previous PR for this course by over a minute. It’s only a few seconds off from my 5K PR. Actually a little faster than I expected for this race, despite the sloggy nature of things. I am pretty impressed that so many 5K’s this year have fallen between 25:35 and 25:45. I enjoy the consistency, but I’d like to be consistently a little bit faster. I really think a sub 25:00 5K is on the table with a little more speed work on my part, and maybe some better race strategy. I recognize that my body is acclimated to the 4-8 mile runs, and things really get comfortable after two miles or so, at which point a 5K is almost over. Perhaps the deal is to get the body loose with a slow mile at the start, then start pushing the pace the next two miles. The Leaf Peepers virtual 5K is coming up soon. Perhaps an experiment is in the offing.

RACE SUMMARY:
Distance: 5K
Time: 25:44 (PR for this race)
Pace: 8:18 (Strava timing)