Joe's Running Blog

4/30/20 Training Update: Round Numbers are Sexy

Toward the end of March I recognized that I was close to running 100 miles for the month. I was already at my highest-mileage month ever, but getting to 100 seemed like an accomplishment that I should go for since I was so close. So on March 31 I ran a 5.5-mile “race” against Katie (who did more mile on her bike), and finished with 105 for the month.

I had no plans to run 100 miles in April. Even after finishing a 30-mile week at the beginning of the month. (Some of that was in March.). Even knowing that I was planning on a Half Marathon as well as a 10-mile run during the month, which would be almost a quarter of the mileage. This was a time to not overdo it.

The last couple of weeks I decided to ease up on my training and attend to bad practices that were contributing to my various leg ailments. The only exception was to be the Paul Mailman virtual race, which I have been committed to all along. I ran that race on April 25, it hurt, and I knew I didn’t want to push it.

The next day, Sunday the 26th, Katie and I went for a 15-mile ride through Middlesex. The hills were hard on my legs, but I have found cycling to be excellent cross-training. It’s good cardio and works different leg muscles than running. Rather than draining my legs, it seems to rejuvenate them for running.

After I uploaded to Strava I looked at my April stats. I was at 105 miles cycling for the month. And I was at just under 84 miles running. 16 miles short, with only four days left in the month. Or, put another way, just another four miles per day to get to 100. How cool would it be to have another 100-mile month. Even better, a 100/100 month!

Cool enough to at least consider going for it. In the meantime, on Sunday Katie forwarded me an article with top running tips. One tip was to run easy and light in training, which will accustom you to running easy and light in races, which will lead to better speed. So on Monday, I went for an easy, light 4.6 mile run. Compression sock on the right leg, knee wraps on both knees, focus on form, resist the temptation to push for speed. No hills to speak of. It felt good, no ailments at the end.

Now I was down to needing just under 12 miles in three days. On Tuesday I was a little more aggressive: 5.8 miles, a run up the hill on Liberty Street. Focus on form. The right knee bothered some at the end, but not real pain. When I approached home I knew I could go to the end of the sidewalk and make it an even six miles, but my legs wouldn’t have it. Still, I was only six miles away.

On Wednesday I went to East Montpelier for my weekly non-Runderachievers run with Lauren. Though a six mile run is definitely doable, East Montpelier is nothing but hills, so I said I wanted to limit it to 4 miles and preferably under 300 feet. Lauren said almost everything is 100 feet elevation gain per mile, so I agreed that 400 would be okay. Anything more would require payback on her part with a really flat run on the bike path, which would be torture for her. With the snow melted and not a lot of rain recently, we ran East Montpelier Trail between Dodge and Center Roads. It was exactly 4 miles, with 1.3 off road. The ups and downs through the woods were deceptive – the elevation gain was almost 500 feet! But, being on trails, it was less taxing on the body. Don’t get me wrong, my legs were tired and complaining a lot, but there was little pain. April miles: 98.1.

Today, even with tired legs, I could have just buzzed out the front door and done a loop through the Meadow to collect my 1.9 miles and call it good. But it was rainy and dreary. And I had to go to the office in the afternoon. By the time my office duties were complete, the weather was still dreary but no longer rainy. (Windy though.) I have a loop from the office that is exactly 5 kilometers, so I decided to run that. Light and easy, check off the miles and go home. I am trying to be more diligent about stretching and warming up before running, so I did that for a few minutes. I’ve been reading about strengthening and “activating the glutes” for better performance and injury reduction. I’ve been working on that part, but they felt tired and weak at the start of this run. But as I got into it, everything felt better than expected. Focus on form, light and easy running, don’t worry about speed. Surprisingly, this kind of training run is more enjoyable than the kind that leaves me in pain at the end!

So I finish April with 101 miles, again reaching a goal that didn’t start out as a goal. However I did set one mileage goal at the beginning of the year: 1010 in 2020. 1,010 miles for the year. It’s a stretch; I ran about 500 miles last year, though I did miss a fair amount of time with injury. This year also started off slow due to an injury, and I missed a couple of weeks in February due to illness. (Did I have the COVID and didn’t realize? We may never know!). To reach the goal, I need to average 2.75 miles per day, or a little over 80 per month. At the end of February I was already 65 miles off the pace. I was still feeling confident because I was planning on some long races during the year (back when we still thought there would be races this year), and I only needed to make up 6.5 miles per month the rest of the way.

As it turns out, the 100-mile months put a real dent in the deficit. After my run today, with 306 miles logged for the year, I am only 28 miles off the pace. I was planning to skip running tomorrow, but I actually felt like doing more after my run today. (We are supposed to get rain, so I might not anyway.) With 8 months still remaining, I don’t need to run 100 every month to reach my goal for the year. So I am not planning to run 100 in May. Still, I’ve got a virtual Half Marathon on Memorial Day weekend, and I need to train for that. And there are 31 days in the month…

4/25/20: CVR Virtual Race / Not-the-Paul Mailman 10 Miler

This week was to be the Paul Mailman 10-mile race in Montpelier, which at press time has been postponed and not cancelled. Recognizing that there would be people who wanted to run a virtual version, CVR added a 10-mile option for week two of the Social Distancing Race series. I for one have been planning for several weeks to run the course on the day of. I was not the only one.

Last year’s race was the first of my life at this distance. More to the point, it was my first-ever run of any kind of ten miles. The goal that day was to just get to the end. The goal was reinforced by the cold, heavy rain on the morning of the race. The goal this year was to be less about survival and more about moving the needle forward on the race results. I was looking forward to it.

What the race would lack in other competitors, it more than made up for in weather. Though much of April has been dreary, and even more of it cold, Saturday morning’s weather was sunny and mid-50’s. I was contemplating wearing a long-sleeve shirt, but when I got to the start I decided short sleeves would suffice.

Unlike other recent virtual races, I decided to run the actual Paul Mailman course, because it starts just a couple of miles from my house. I parked at Montpelier High School and ran a lap and a half around the track to warm up, and did some stretches to loosen up. At 10:45 a.m., the “horn” sounded for the start of the race. A crowd of one runner galloped off down the Montpelier bike path.

The start was actually pretty similar to the Unplugged Unplugged two weeks prior. I went off in a faster pace than I really wanted, but everything felt really good and I didn’t feel like I was pushing. The first mile was done in 8:46, and the second mile in 9:15. Too fast to sustain, but I had set a goal of 1:35:00, which would require a 9:30 pace, and there was a 2.5-mile climb ahead of me. This was time in the bank that could be deducted on the ascent.

This part of the run was fun in a way, as this is where I crossed paths with a half dozen other CVR runners who chose to run the race and were on the descent, including my friends Dot and John Martin. (They weren’t all being diligent with the social distancing, which I hope doesn’t come back to bite them.). In all I heard of I think ten members who ran the course on Saturday.

One of the nice things about all the hills I’ve been running lately is that the Jones Brook Road climb, which was a total bitch last year, no longer seems so bad. It goes on for over two miles, but it’s only 200 feet of gain, with a lot of flat or nearly-flat sections. I’ve definitely had worse. Mile three was done in a fairly robust 9:41 pace. Mile four, steeper, was 9:58. At this point I figured I was home free. I also for some reason figured that the turnaround was only a half mile ahead. But the math doesn’t work that way – when running a ten-mile out-and-back, you turn around at five miles, not 4.5. Mile 5 I did in 10:12. I was now a little behind the 1:35 pace, but it was time to go downhill.

I have learned that going downhill can be just as taxing as going uphill, maybe more so if I go too fast. It’s not so much the heart and lungs, or even the muscles that I have to worry about so much as the joints, as they take a pounding on the way down. I felt like I kept a measured pace on the descent, but problems started to creep in. The knees got a little sore, as did the hips. I wasn’t feeling as light and fluid as I did on my last training run. Then again, we were several miles in now. Historically, things have really slowed down for me after six or seven miles. The first couple of miles downhill weren’t fast enough to make up for the uphills, and mile 8, which was still downhill, took a few seconds longer than the 9:30 benchmark. We’re starting to take on water, captain!

Mile 9 was flat, and it turned into a slog. I actually had to walk for a portion of it – though later I realized that I always walk when I get water aid stations, so a first walking portion nine miles in really isn’t that bad. When I first started running races I thought “having to walk a portion” was bad, but now I realize that the recovery benefits can outweigh the lost time. But at 10:10, the ninth mile was truly lost time.

I didn’t have a kick to finish. My 1:35:00 goal was lost. I did the last mile in 9:52, and crossed the finish in 1:36:17. Short of my goal ,but almost seven minutes faster than last year, and really not all that bad. I come out of this thinking that some diligent investment in building up the glutes and loosening up the hip flexors will pay real dividends in the long run, with less pain and joint fatigue to slow me down.

Dot and John Martin were hanging out in the parking lot, along with Donna Smyres and another guy I had never met before, and for a few moments there was a sense of normalcy as we hung out, shot the shit and talked about our runs and where we are with our training. Much of what I’ve been doing with running has been about improving my own performance and meeting individual goals, but I also really enjoy the community of runners. There is always a lot of mutual support with wherever one is with the process, and also maybe just a bit of trash talk to keep everyones competitive juices flowing. One can’t always just answer to themselves!

RACE SUMMARY:
Distance: 10 miles
Time: 1:36:17 (PR for this distance)
Pace: 9:37
Place: 4/4 (for those who posted times in the CVR virtual race series)
Age Group: 2/2
CVR Points: N/A

4/23/20 Training Update: The Downs and Ups

If there is a silver lining, from a running standpoint, to the COVID-19 crisis, social distancing, stay-at-home orders, and resultant race cancellations, it’s that it’s helping me dial it back a little bit. To save me from myself in a way.

I don’t mean this in an “I just can’t stop myself” way, though I sometimes do allow myself to push too far to arbitrarily reach some round numbers for miles that really weren’t goals to begin with. I mean it more from the standpoint that, for most of my longer races over the past year, I rushed my training – usually because I was coming off an injury – and perhaps made choices that were bad for my body over the longer term. Now, with no “real” races for another two months, I am allowing myself to listen to my body more. And when it talks, to take action if needed.

Over the last two weeks, my body has been speaking to me. During the Unplugged Unplugged Half Marathon, my hips and knees were sore. The hips have been a perpetual issue, especially at longer distances. But even running shorter distances I feel stiff. My legs feel heavy at the start, and I don’t have a fluid stride. I’ve been mindful of my form, shortening my stride and increasing my cadence, but I don’t feel the least bit fluid on my runs.

The week after the half marathon was a light week. I ran 3.5 miles on Monday with little problems. On Wednesday I ran a 3.3 mile loop with Lauren, which started with a decent hill. My right knee bothered some on that run, and I figured I need to be more diligent about wearing a knee wrap. Lauren also let me borrow a foam roller to work on my IT band. On Friday I had an almost four mile run, with my knee wrapped, but I noted on Strava that my lower right leg was bothering like it was a few months ago. Maybe I need to be more diligent on my PT and wear my compression socks?

On Saturday I ran the CVR Virtual 5K race. I wrapped the knee and wore a compression sock on my right leg. I did some stretching before hand and a half mile warm up and cool down on either end of the run. Everything felt great. I also had gone on a bike ride on Friday and engaged some different muscles, which I thought helped. We are good to go, right?

Well, not so fast. After the rest week, I started this week with a seven mile run on Monday. Right knee wrapped. Compression sock on the right leg. Three miles in, my left knee started to hurt. And it hurt like hell the rest of the way. (For good measure, the right knee joined the pain party with a couple miles left, but it was very mild in comparison.) It is starting to get worrisome and annoying. I am just getting into running, and I don’t want to quit because of perpetual injuries.

On Monday night I broke out the roller. I also broke out the Internet to figure out just what I am supposed to do with the roller. Some websites say to put pressure on the IT band. Others say don’t put pressure on the IT band. The problem is with your muscles, which is causing your IT band to overcompensate. This is compelling, because I would rather avoid injuries than manage them. The website discussed how we need to activate our glutes and have them do a lot of work – I’ve read that elsewhere – and how we need to loosen up the hip flexors. As I said above, tight hips are a perpetual problem. Stretching the hip flexors seems like the right thing to do.

And not just sometimes, I need to work on the glutes and the hip flexors pretty much every day.

The thing is, I like to stretch. It feels good every time. I just don’t do it as much as I need to.

On Tuesday I went for a three-mile walk with Katie. My left knee hurt again. Afterward she massaged my leg, and put pressure on my IT band to release the tension, and introduced me to her own foam roller. All of that hurt. But afterward my leg felt pretty okay. And in the morning, my leg felt pretty okay.

On Wednesday I tried to do some stretches and PT maneuvers during the day. Lauren came over for a trail run through Hubbard and North Branch Parks. I wrapped both knees and wore a compression sock on my right foot. I am not, nor do I plan to be, a trail runner. But there is something to be said for running on earth and not pavement. After four miles, my legs felt fine. I mean, I felt it a little in my left knee. But it was fine.

Today I went for another run. I actually am tapering a little bit, because I plan to run 10 miles on Saturday in lieu of the Paul Mailman race, but I felt like it would be okay to run four today and take tomorrow off. I did a variety of stretches for knees and hips and overpronation (the lower leg issue) to get good and warmed up. I ran up the Sibley/Sabin/Kent hill at the start of my run, and then down Liberty Street. The rest was flat on the usual streets. And everything felt really good. A little something in the lower leg. Nothing in the knees. The hips were clean and loose. I felt really strong at the end, with a fluid stride. This is what I want running to feel like!

So as of today, April 23, 2020, I think I know what I need to do: mind the form, use compression wisely, and work the muscle groups so that the right muscles are bearing the work, and not leaving it to joints and tendons and the like. It’s a message that I’ve been hearing for several months now, but now I have time to listen and put it together. Now I need the discipline to stick with it!

4/18/20: CVR Social Distancing Virtual Race, 5K

I was surprised last week with the news that, to somewhat compensate for all of the race cancellations that are now stretching into the summer, Central Vermont Runners initiated virtual race series, that will stretch for 8 weeks into early June. This is a no-cost, social distancing fun run, with results “verified” via your Strava or Garmin activity. Runners can choose between 5K, 5K with a dog, 10K, Half Marathon and Full Marathon. What a great way to keep us all engaged!

Because last week was a recovery week after my virtual half marathon, I chose to run a 5K. There is a loop around downtown Montpelier that I used to run many times from my office, before I extended the distance into the T Rex route. Call it the Headless Rex. Per chance, this course is exactly 5 kilometers long. Being downtown, it’s pretty flat, though there is the modest Hubbard Street hill to traverse. As a bonus, it does not start in front of my house, but is close enough to provide a nice warmup and cool down getting to and from. Rather than starting from the office, I started from the corner of Spring and Elm, about 3/4 of a mile from the house.

I finally got everything together for a mid-afternoon start, with the official “horn” at 3:45 in the afternoon. As is my wont, I ran clockwise to get the hill out of the way in the first half. The course runs down Spring to Main St., then a right on Liberty and another right on Hubbard. After going up and down Hubbard, it’s left on Barre Street, where there is another little climb. Then a hairpin turn back to the bike path on Stone Cutters Way, through town to Bailey Ave., a distance of approximately one mile. Then right on Bailey, across State and up another hill to Baldwin. This is the State House Zig segment that then goes down to State Street and back up again to Court Street. Then it’s a left hand turn on to Elm for a fast and flat quarter mile back to the start/finish line.

Because it’s a short course and there were no other runners, there’s not much of a race report. I set myself a modest but doable target of 27:00, which is an 8:42 pace. But because that’s too difficult to remember, I just decided to try to keep it at 8:30 or less. I felt good from the start, which may be a testament to a proper warm up. I reached mile one, on Barre Street after 80% of the climbing was done, in 8:29. Likewise I finished the flat second mile, all on the bike path, in 8:29. 27:00 was pretty much in the bag already.

Still feeling good, I decided to try to improve my time by going for a Personal Record on the State House Zig. This is a 2/3 mile stretch with two little hills to climb. As it turns out, I ran this in 5:33; four seconds slower than my PR, but still good.

Somewhere along the way, probably on Court Street, I started thinking that my 5K PR might be in play. I ran the last Fallen Leaves 5K in November in 26:12, and when I was “sprinting” down Elm toward the finish there appeared to be a chance. Alas, I hit the finish five seconds too late, in 26:17. (N.B. The Fallen Leaves Course is a little longer, so my pace was further off than the time would suggest. But still.) Everything felt good, physically, at the finish, so all in all a great race.

While I was running I figured also that I should run the Corporate Cup course on May 7th, the original day of that race. As the first 5K I ever ran, it has a special place in my heart. Last year I set a stretch goal of 26:00 that I totally bombed out on, but I think that could be achievable this time, especially given it’s a little flatter than the Headless Rex course.

Before then are a couple more CVR virtual races. The first one proved very popular, with over 50 people registering races, and suddenly a lot more CVR members on Strava. For next week I have been planning to run the Paul Mailman 10 mile course, which I will still do even though there is not a 10 mile version of the virtual race. I guess I will enter in the 10K category! I before then I will write another training update, in which I can complain about all my various ailments and my attempts to make them go away for good!

RACE SUMMARY:
Distance: 5K
Time: 26:17
Pace: 8:26
Place: 9/21
Age Group: 1/3

Since last week was a recovery week for me

4/11/20: Half Marathon Unplugged Unplugged

The second race in my 2020 COVID Non-Race Series was the Half Marathon Unplugged. Originally scheduled for Colchester, Winooski and Burlington, and to finish at a brewery, I ran it instead in Montpelier and finished at my house. (As of press time, this race is technically postponed and not cancelled outright. But, depending on how long we need to practice social distancing, it’s possible that the calendar will run out of available dates for all the postponed races. So I’m a bit skeptical.)

I came into this race feeling pretty good. In lieu of extra long distances, my training consisted of a bunch of 4-5 mile runs, with a weekly 8-10 miler with a hill. The prior week I ran 30 miles, which hurt, so I dialed it back for the week leading up to the Unplugged Unplugged. “Tapering” it’s called.

In trying to stick with the original race’s “No Hills, No Frills” motto, I was looking to run a fairly flat course through downtown Montpelier. Lots of out-and-back portions, with a good half of the race on the bike path. Figuring I was in better shape than when I ran in Phoenix, I set a goal to beat my Phoenix time of 2:05 and some change. That would require me to run at a 9:30 pace, which seemed do-able. (For a brief moment I considered sub 2:00, but in the couple weeks before I recognized that 9:00 minute splits for 13 miles would not be realistic for me at this time.)

At the risk of providing spoilers, the setup for this race wasn’t as favorable for speed as the Mesa course, even discounting the lack of a few thousand friends to pump up the energy levels. For starters, the Mesa course dropped a net 150 feet, with no discernible elevation gain at any point on the course. My “flat” run, which started and ended in front of my house, naturally had zero net gain or loss, but it did have some rises that netted 222 feet of uphill. Finally, the weather, though comfortable for running (sunny and temps in the upper 30’s) required more clothing, and therefore more weight to carry.

Katie was on hand to provide support. She was going to ride around on her bike and set up a couple of water stops for me on the way. She also brought along a portable speaker to play some tunes and set the mood. (She also did the artwork on that fancy bib I posted above.). The “horn” sounded at 10:15, and I was off. To get the proper mileage, my course actually started by running the opposite direction for 0.2 miles, then I turned around and ran back past the house, and the cheering audience of one, toward downtown.

I felt really good at the start. My pace was fast but comfortable, and I wasn’t able to slow myself down to my 9:30 target pace. It’s not a taxing stretch and I thought it would be okay to bank some seconds in recognition that I’d slow down later. Mile one was done in 8:45. Mile two was a little slower, but still completed in 9:00. I was now already a minute ahead of my goal pace. The next couple of miles, along the new part of the bike path, were at a more reasonable pace. I was slowed some by the ups and downs.

The end of the bike path at Gallison Hill Road was 4:00 miles in, and the first of two water stops. I told Katie to expect me in 38:00 minutes, but I turned the corner approaching her just over 36:00. As I hydrated she reminded me not to overdo it. The mile 3 and 4 splits were 9:21 and 9:45, including some walking at the water stop. I felt like things were in good shape.

The next segment was to go all the way to the other end of the bike path at Dog River Road, a Full Monty stretch. I created a segment for this on Strava in November, and I was now fifth out of five on the leaderboard. I did not want to be last on my own segment, so I created a goal for myself of 35:30, which was basically a 9:30 pace for the 3.75 mile stretch. (Note that I only needed a time of 37:48 to move out of last, but that seemed like not much of a challenge.) And since I was going to run a 9:30 pace for the whole race, easy peasy. Because I was talking with Katie and getting water at the turn, I didn’t get an exact time to get to the end by, but I figured if I got there by 1:12:00 into the race it would be close.

The first thing that happened on this segment is that I rounded the very first bend and was met with a stiff headwind. Unfortunately, I would be running into this headwind for pretty much the entire segment. The second thing that happened is that I crossed paths with Dot Martin, who noted my bib, so I ran backwards for a few seconds to explain what I was doing. Her husband John was a little behind her, but I didn’t slow down as much for him.

The third thing that happened was that my comfortable 9:00 – 9:20 pace wasn’t there. Every time I looked at my watch it told me I was running at 9:35. I had to make up some time, which I looked to do on the last stretch of the old bike path. I picked up the pace, and as I was getting close to the end my time was getting close to 1:12:00. I missed 1:12 by about 10 seconds. And, as I would find out later, I missed my goal by eight seconds.

And at that point, any aspirations of me being able to compete with my Phoenix time were done. I had gassed myself on the bike path – I was fully aware at the time that this was happening – and when I turned the corner onto Dog River Road I needed to walk. And something was uncomfortable in my right shoe. It felt like my orthotic insert was out of place. Then I spotted Katie, who was not at the next water stop, but was instead waiting to take some video of me. I indulged and ran past her. Then I stopped, paused my watch, and checked my shoe. (Nothing wrong there, it must have been my foot pad swelling due to the pounding,). Then I got some water, and agreed on a new next water stop when I got back to the bike path. And off I went.

Mile 8, not including the stoppage time, was a respectable 9:35, though most of that was the push on the bike path. But then the splits got real bad, ranging from 9:58 to 11:00 minute miles. I was giving back time by the bucket load, feeling some pain in my feet and my knee and my hips, and just working to get back home. Katie came out to meet me about a quarter mile from the finish, so she could pace me in, which helped as I found a little bit of a kick in keeping up with her. And at approximately 12:26 I crossed the finish line in front of my house. Tired, a little disappointed in the result, but happy for having followed through and doing it.

RACE SUMMARY:
Distance: Half Marathon
Time: 2:09:19
Pace: 9:51
Place: 1/1
Age Group: 1/1

4/9/20 Training Update: How Much is Too Much?

So as to not bury this, I am training for something right now, even if it’s my own race. The Unplugged Half Marathon was supposed to be Saturday, but it’s postponed. To keep my motivation up, I’m running my own version by myself on Saturday. I probably mentioned this last time.

I’ve been working on my own training plan, with a few moderate runs during the week, and a long run on the weekend. Last week I pushed the distance on pretty much every run I did, and I paid for it by the end.

It started out innocently enough, with four miles on Monday. On Tuesday I wanted to do a post-work run, and Katie was going to do a ride, so I devised a race where we travelled routes that we had previously done in similar times. Mine was to be a little shorter, so I added on an extra loop to balance the time, which added about 1/3 mile more than I expected. I ran 5.44 miles (and lost).

Wednesday was Runderachievers quaRUNtine, which I did with Lauren. I was thinking 3-4 miles, but I told her 4-5 would be okay. We did 5 in East Montpelier, with about 530 feet of elevation. The hills were a slog.

I took Thursday off, which I think was a good call. On Friday I was considering another 4+ miles in town – mostly flat. For some reason I decided to run a sort-of figure 8 instead of my normal path through the Meadow, because I wanted to have a “Four Season” segment. (The streets are Spring, Summer, Winter, and…Pearl. My segment, my name.) The run ended up being 5.85 miles.

My plan all along for Saturday was to run the Portal Road loop, which is 8 miles. I made the mistake of looking at my stats on Strava, however, which told me I had run 20.5 miles for the week. Running this loop would give me my highest-mile week ever. But if I ran an extra mile and a half, why that would make a nice round 30 miles.

I knew really early on that this was going to be a slog. My legs always feel like crap for the first mile, but two miles in I was already tired. At which point I reached the hill, which gains 350 feet over the next mile and a half. There was walking involved a couple of times. The route plateaus for the better part of a mile, after which we lose all the elevation on a similarly-steep downslope. That was a good opportunity to work on my downhill form, and I felt like I was making improvements there.

By the time I got to the bottom, I had the opportunity to just go with the original shorter route. Almost every cell in my body wanted to do that, but my brain cells overrode them. Instead of cutting back at Elm Street I went along the bike path past the co-op. At least it was flat. And I kept it mostly flat to get back home, though even going around a corner and finding a slight rise caused me to stop and walk a few steps a couple of times.

I was happy to push through and get to 30 miles, a mindset that will probably help me in a future race some time. I also was so tired that I couldn’t really imagine I’d want to run for a few days. But I still had my race to plan for. Katie agreed to set up a couple of water stops for me so I don’t have to carry on my run, and on Sunday we got on our bikes to scout those out. That was a 15-mile ride (with more hills), so also tiring, but I felt pretty good afterward.

This week has been more of a breather, because I am tapering for my run. On Monday I went out for an easy/flat 3.6 miler, to which I didn’t add on any extra miles. On Tuesday it was back on the bike to do a course measurement – I panicked because I came up 1/2 mile short, but I later realized I had skipped a little out-and-back spur that was in my original layout. So the mileage is on the mark. On Wednesday I ran with Lauren in town, with just the one hill on Liberty Street. And I felt good and fairly refreshed afterward. Scaling back is good! I’m going to try to get a couple of miles in tomorrow, though it’s supposed to snow in the afternoon, just as a loosen up. Then on Saturday it’s race day. Wish me luck!

3/22/20: Not the Kaynor’s Sap Run

As mentioned last time, the COVID-19 Coronavirus disease has been overtaking the planet, and unprecedented measures are being taken to limit the opportunities for people to infect others with this highly contagious disease. As a result, Vermont basically shut down in mid March, and all races for a few months have been postponed or outright canceled.

The first race on this year’s CVR calendar to be affected was the Kaynor’s Sap Run on March 22, which was cancelled with no makeup date. I was disappointed, both because this was the first race I was planning to run this year, and also because it was my first (and to date only) 10K last year. I am a much better runner now than then, and I was looking forward to lowering my personal record.

Then, inspired by all the events that now offer “virtual races” to those who can’t attend in person, I realized that I could run the Sap Run – and other cancelled races – even if nobody else did.

After my most recent injury issue, I had been ramping up the running, averaging more than 20 miles per week through March, which is a lot for me. I also began taking on more hills, including the brutal CVR Long Run the prior weekend, because… Well, I guess because you really can’t avoid them much around here. Anyway, hills I’ve been doing more than ever. But the reality is that they pay off on the flats.

Not that I wanted this race to be completely flat. The Kaynor’s course has a couple of hills, and I wanted to be somewhat true to the spirit of the race. So I planned a course that would take me up to College Street via the hill on Liberty Street. No, not the same elevation gain, but also not nothing.

My time in last year’s race was a little over 1:05, which translated to about a 10:22 pace. Given where I am now, it seemed silly to make 1:05 my goal. Barring injury, I should easily be able to finish under an hour. Most of my “flat” runs recently were in the 9:10 – 9:20 range. Heck, I ran the Phoenix half at a pace that would break an hour. So I decided on a target of under 58:00, or about a 9:20 pace.

The morning of the 22nd started out cold, with temps in the upper teens, but also sunny and clear. The sidewalks were in good shape, clear of ice and snow. My course would take me from my home on Elm Street, across the Vine Street bridge, over to Liberty Street to College, then down the more gradual decline on Kent, Sabin and Sibley Streets. Then the little hook to the bike path, which I took to the Department of Labor building. Through the parking lot, back to Bailey Ave. on Route 2, then my usual Zig around the State House, through the Meadow and home, going as far as I needed to get to 6.2 miles (which was a bit past the house).

I started out at a good pace. Mile 1 was at the base of the hill on Liberty Street, which I finished in 8:37, well ahead of the pace I needed. The hill of course would slow me down, but mile 2 clicked on the downhill portion, and that was at 9:15. That split was faster than the target pace, and the rest of the course was basically be flat. The mile three marker was on the bike path near where I would start to circle back. I finished that one in 8:48. By now I was 1:20 ahead of the pace to beat 58:00 minutes. The objective now was to keep those seconds in the bank and beat the target handily.

The three mile mark was at the low point of the course, so there was a modest uphill gain the rest of the way. My 4 and 5 mile splits were under 9:10, and I knew I was home free. The rest of the race, 1.24 miles, was a bit slower as my legs tired and my hips got a little sore, but those still went at a 9:31 pace. I ended up finishing in 56:44, well under the target and more than 8 minutes faster than last year’s race.

Running a virtual race by myself was interesting. On the one hand, I really do feed off the energy of a crowd of runners. On the other hand, other than the occasional runner who I will target toward the end of a race as someone to try to beat, I really am racing against myself and my goals most of the time. In this case, I knew early on that I was well ahead of the pace I needed for 58:00, so the motivation was to not take it easy and give that time back. Mid race I adjusted the goal to 57:00 in order to keep myself pushing.

The virtual race had its benefits, including being no-cost and run on my own schedule. It’s definitely not something I prefer to a real race, but I had fun and plan to run other cancelled races as virtuals in the coming months.

RACE SUMMARY:
Distance: 10K
Time: 56:44 (Personal Record)
Pace: 9:05
Place: 1/1
Age Group: 1/1
CVR Points: N/A

April 2, 2020: Training in the time of COVID-19

It’s been more than three weeks since my last post. It feels like it might have been a year ago. A lot has changed since then. EVERYTHING has changed since then.

Earlier this year, the novel Coronavirus disease known as COVID-19 hit the shores of the USA. It was a big problem in China and Italy, but we didn’t think that much of it here. It wasn’t nothing, mind you. I was thinking about it when I went to Arizona for the half marathon. But we also figured the US would keep it under control better than other countries.

We…did not do that. Not to get too political, but the Trump Administration are exactly the wrong people to have in charge in a circumstance like this. They insisted it wasn’t a big deal and, therefore, did very little in response until it was too late. (And even then continued to botch things.)

By early March there was talk about the need for social distancing and limiting contact with other people. We did Runderachievers on the 11th. On the 12th, at work, we started writing up business continuation plans if we were forced to close. That evening I went for a 4.6 mile run that on Strava I titled “It Was Run or Drink.” That was simply an escape run.

We went forward with the CVR Winter Long Run on the 14th. I carpooled to East Montpelier with my neighbor Sal, but felt a little strange about it. Social distancing was becoming accepted best practice and our offices were closing down. But saving gas is also important! That run was a killer. 9.6 miles with 1,000 feet of elevation gain, except I fell behind the rest and took a wrong turn which added another 1.5 miles. It was basically the Genny Tenny redux. I had to walk some of the uphills toward the end. I was tired and sore and finished 30 minutes after the others. It was a hard run.

And then, everything basically stopped. Governor Scott implemented a “Stay at Home” order the next Tuesday, though thankfully exercise is an acceptable reason to be outside. Then the races started getting cancelled. First to go was the Kaynor’s Sap Run scheduled for March 22. Then the Half Marathon Unplugged scheduled for April 11 was postponed. Shortly thereafter the Vermont City Marathon was postponed until October. And all of the other April/May races, and some in June, have been postponed or cancelled outright.

I was hoping that this would be cleared up in time to run VCM, as that’s the thing I’ve been aiming toward for several months now. But I think we are still early in the COVID-19 spread, and that race attracts thousands. Brock was wise enough to not book a flight for Memorial Day weekend, so he won’t be out any dollars for cancelling that flight. We are on for October.

Winter Long Runs are done for the year, and Runderachievers is on indefinite hiatus. What’s to keep one going? Well, the other runners for one thing. Runders organizers are encouraging people to do solo runs (quaRUNtines) and send pictures that Colin photoshops into a collage for the week. That motivation for me is doubled by my co-worker Lauren suggesting we do a run together on a weekly basis. So we’ve been quaRUNtining, at a six-foot or more distance, these last three weeks. I’m not totally certain we should be even doing this, but I think we are at low risk. And the back roads of East Montpelier are very low-trafficked. And hilly.

Did I mention the hills? I’ve been forcing myself to do hills, which I think will benefit me in the long run if I can keep my knees healthy. I’ve been wrapping them, but I can still feel it, especially in the right knee. I think I can manage it though.

My other motivation is to still do the races I was planning on, but to run them alone as virtual races. I did a 10K on the day the Sap Run was scheduled. I’ll write more about that in a separate post. Next up is the Unplugged Half Marathon that is not happening on April 11. But it is happening for me. I sketched out a course, and I am training.

In addition to miles, I am purposely running hills. After a couple of hilly runs with Lauren, and that painful long run, I decided to just take them on. Last Saturday I decided to run up North Street. This is a long hill, gaining 700 feet over two and a quarter miles. It goes on and on. I’d like to say I did it without stopping. I did stop to take a few photos, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t appreciate the rest. And then there was the downhill on Sparrow Farm Road and Gould Hill Road. That was close to three miles. I was mindful of my form, monitoring my stride length and cadence, but it’s a beating. I was really sore at the end, but I made sure to make it 8 miles. I felt better than the long run a couple weeks earlier, but not by much!

The miles have added up. I exceeded 20 miles each of the last four weeks, and finished March with 101 miles for the month, by far the most I have ever done. My injury and illness in January and February put me well behind my goal of 1,010 miles for the year, but I’ve made up substantial ground and was only 50 miles behind the pace as March ended. I only need to make up about six miles per month to get there, which seems really doable.

And so I am running on. I have a “race” in a week, then anther one two weeks later, and so on. And soon, hopefully soon, the real races will start up. Maybe June. And tons of runners will sign up for them as we strive for normalcy, and the race series points will again be a motivating factor. In the meantime, the miles seem like the only thing I have real control over, and it’s comforting. And I don’t mind racing against myself.

3/9/20 Training Update: Not the King of the Hills

Hills are part of life in Vermont. I won’t say a “necessary evil,” because one of the reasons I am here is for the great downhill skiing. But they are difficult to avoid for any length of time. Here in Montpelier, where two rivers meet, we have some flats, but as soon as you turn away from them, it’s hill time.

I’ve actually done a lot of running without turning too far from the rivers over the past couple of years. But the winter long runs often have hills. And the Runderachievers crew like hills. And, not surprisingly, most of the races have some ups and downs. If you’re going to run, you’re going to run on some hills.

I’ve been having an up-and-down relationship with the hills the last couple of weeks. As I wrote last week, I struggled with Dole Hill on the short Runderachievers run, then really handled the 8-mile Portal Road run, with a two-mile climb, with little problem.

This week we ran the Dole Hill route for Runders again. I managed to not take my beta blocker, and the hill was more manageable. And yet, I still had to walk a few yards before the turnaround. (But I felt great after the turnaround.) I have a working hypothesis that I am not as prepared, from a nutritional standpoint, for the early evening runs as I am for morning runs. I have a plan to work on that.

As I may have mentioned before, downhill skiing is a winter priority, so I’ve been working around that for the past few weeks. We decide what weekend day looks the best for skiing, and I run the other day. (Training is also a priority, as there are races coming up.) By Thursday, the ski day was up in the air, so I thought it best to do my Thursday-or-Friday run on Thursday. It was sunny and fairly warm. I chose to run the Siboinebi Path out to Gallison Hill road, 3.7 miles round trip from the office that I extended to get to 4 miles. It’s along the river, so no real hills, but the far half of the path was unplowed, and therefore still covered with a few inches of soft and slushy snow. Given that I am working on form, I probably should have stuck to solid ground, but I didn’t. The non-snow portion was fairly fast for me, around 9:00 pace, and I did the whole thing in a 9:33 pace. Good work.

After a big day of skiing on Saturday, featuring a couple of high-speed spills – no injuries though – I planned a long run for Sunday. It was sunny and temps were mid-40’s. I chose to follow my 7.5 mile loop, but add a couple of out-and-backs on either end of the bike path to extend the miles. This run has my old nemesis, the hill on Northfield Street. It gains about 150 feet over a mile, with the first part particularly steep. This doesn’t sound all that daunting, but – perhaps in combination with the downhill portion that I usually run too fast – it usually seems to kick my ass. Things tend to really slow down after this hill.

Sunday was no different. Granted, I ran the first three miles in a sub 9:20 pace. I am working on faster cadence, don’t you know. But then came the hill, and the downhill, after which the splits got slower and slower. My hips got a little sore, though I’ve had worse. But my feet got a lot sore, because I was using my ice, snow and trail shoes on mostly clear pavement. I stumbled home running the last mile just under 11:00 minutes.

Today, Monday, we were blessed with more sunshine, and even warmer temperatures. It was 55 at noon, and I ran in shorts and a tee shirt. How wonderful! I decided I was going to take on the hill again. I need to get comfortable with hills, and I have some new techniques suggested by my physical therapist for keeping good form on the inclined surfaces. It wasn’t so bad, with the caveat that the office is only a half mile from the hill, so I hit it with fresher legs, and my total run was 4.6 miles today, 5 miles less than yesterday. But I got to the top in a 10:17 pace, and the rest of the run was under 9:30. Considering the strain I put on my legs over the weekend, they felt really good. I did notice some “feeling” in the problem zone, but at the end I picked up the cadence to kick across the finish line, and that really seemed to straighten things out. Cadence is something else I need to work on, but I just want to do it all – distance, hills, pace, cadence – and it’s hard to do everything at once.

I’m starting to accumulate the miles, though, and trying to be more mindful of what I am working on with each run. For much of last year, everything was a race, with my goal to run faster than I did last time. I still want to run fast, but I also want to be more efficient, and have the pace available for race day. We’ll see if I can maintain discipline and have it pay off over time.

P.S. Brock got back to me on March 3, and we are signed up for the Vermont City Marathon in May. I am really excited. Go Team Roadduck!

3/2/20: PT, Training, and Race Plans

This was an eventful week, both in terms of running and running-adjunct activities. There was some training, some race registration, and a visit with Physical Therapy.s

Let’s start with the latter. I’ve written in the past few weeks about the lower-leg problems that started manifesting in November. I saw Dr. Tim, who referred me to the physical therapist Brian Montgomery. I was supposed to go a couple of weeks ago, following the Arizona race, but I got sick and postponed, so today was the day.

It was a good session. He asked a lot of background questions, then had me do some lunges and other balance/stability exercises, then had me do a few minutes on the treadmill, which is equipped with high-speed cameras.

The balance exercises were interesting. My right foot angles out a bit, and the bottom feels a little more rounded than my left foot. So I don’t balance as well on that. But the real illumination was the treadmill part. (Not the least of which – you just don’t want to see what you look like from behind while running!). Bottom line, the adjustments I’ve been making over the past couple of months are in the right direction, but things can be tightened up a bit. We worked at a 10:00 pace and a 9:13 pace, and things got better at the faster gait. Brian gave me some things to focus on while running, and some more exercises. I’ll see him in six weeks as a follow up.

The other thing that happened this week was that I signed up for the Half Marathon Unplugged in Burlington on April 11. It’s supposed to be another flat and fast course, and a good tuneup for the Vermont City Marathon. It’s also incentive for me to keep with a good training schedule.

Before then is the Kaynor’s Sap Run on March 22. That’s a 10K, and I realized this morning that I’ve run more half marathons (and 10 milers for that matter) than I have 10Ks. Last year’s Sap Run was the only 10K I’ve run so far! I am planning on entering again, but I have not signed up yet. I want to watch the weather, because I’m not going to drive an hour-plus for this race if we get a snow storm.

I also meant to sign up for the Vermont City Marathon relay today, before the cost goes up, but I’ve been waiting on Brock to “see if he can work everything out with travel.” That hasn’t happened yet. I hope he does work it out. I’m not overly concerned with the extra $25, but I’ve been looking forward to the race. C’mon Brock, make it happen!

I had a pretty good week of running. On Tuesday I did my normal lunch loop, which I call “Rex” because the pattern looks like a T-Rex to me. That was at a faster pace than I’ve been doing lately, 9:15 miles, so I guess I am recovered from the illness I had.

This looks like a T-Rex to you, too, right? Right??

On Wednesday I ran with Runderachievers, and that was a different story altogether. I have a condition called Premature Ventricular Contraction (PVC), which is an occasional extra heartbeat. It’s not a risky situation, but can be uncomfortable to deal with at times, so I sometimes take a beta blocker to regulate it. The regulation includes suppressing my heart rate for a couple of days. I took one on Tuesday night, and on Wednesday night I couldn’t get the blood flow I needed for the run, especially the Dole Hill portion. I ended up walking a fair amount of the uphill. Things felt okay on the downhill and flat part back, but it was a good reminder to not take that pill before a run, especially if I want to run fast.

I also got 4 miles in on the treadmill on Friday, and then on Sunday went for a long run. It was fairly cold, but that meant the sidewalks were in good shape, because all the sloppy puddles had cleared up. I decided on a new route, Portal Road, which I had done on the bike before and was a good distance at 7.5 miles. There is also a big elevation gain (over 500 feet). A big elevation drop, too, for that matter.

This run was markedly better than Runderachievers, as I was able to avoid walking even on the extended uphills. I actually added a little distance to my bike route to make this a full 8 miles. It wasn’t fast – the uphill is almost two full miles, which is slow to begin with, but it also took the speed out of my legs. (A full day of powder skiing on Saturday probably didn’t help.) The splits were pretty consistent in the second half, which I thought was a good sign. Heart and lungs felt good. Legs felt good afterward. It was nice to be able to run this without too much stress.

Because I am prepping for another half marathon in a month, I plan to go back to the CVR Winter Long runs starting next week. (Not expecting a repeat of the 2.5 feet of snow Bolton Valley received last week. The call of the powder can be very strong!) Since I am feeling more comfortable with distance, it’ll be a good opportunity to practice at a faster pace, which should benefit both my health and my race times.