Goals for 2019

It's early for New Year's resolutions, but I figure I'm giving you all some time to think about them. Who wants to join me for the Pittsburgh Half-Marathon (13.1 miles) on May 5th? Who wants to join me for a 150-mile bike ride with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society on June 8-9 (starts in Portersville, PA)? Who wants to join me for the Air Force Marathon (26.2 miles) on Sept 21st (Dayton, OH)? Who wants to join our Masters Swim Team in 2019 and compete in meets at YMCAs across western PA? Ok, go! Get in on the fun! Get active with me!

 

(I've been a sloth since my Ironman in September, so this post is just as much for me as it is you)

Air Force Half Marathon 2018

Race: Air Force Half Marathon

Date: September 15, 2018

Location: Dayton, OH

Time: 1:55:33

Overall Rank: X out of XX 

Age Group Rank: X out of X 

Results: http:

 

I ran the Air Force Half Marathon yesterday and beat my previous time from 2017 by 38 seconds (8:50/mile pace). I worked really hard for those 38 seconds, so I feel very accomplished. It was a hard race after mile 8 or so. The sun broke through the clouds about that time, and despite my best efforts, I think I got dehydrated in the 80-degree temperature. Evidence of this was a mild abdominal cramp during the run and the significant leg cramps I got after I finished. Otherwise, my legs felt strong and my breathing didn't seem labored. My heart rate averaged 90% of my maximum, which is a pretty high workload to sustain for almost 2 hours (1:55:33 to be exact). My cadence averaged 169 steps per minute, which is reasonable for a tall person like me; however, it dropped to less than 160 spm in the last 20 minutes of my race, which probably indicates I was tiring out. On the other hand, most people, after about 90 minutes of exertion, transition from reliance on glycogen energy stores in the liver to reliance on fat energy stores. I’ve been reading a book on running, and the author states that fat can fuel a runner indefinitely, but that the running speed is slower compared to when the exercise is fueled by glycogen. Was that what I was feeling? Or maybe since I read that only a day or two ago, it was fresh on my mind and I grasped on to the idea to explain the growing shadow of exhaustion I saw coming up behind me as I ran into mile 11. In any case, I pushed on, knowing that I’d be done soon, and that Shannan would be looking for me at mile 12.5, and I wanted to be doing my best when she saw me. She took a photo then, and in viewing it, I shudder to think that was “doing my best,” but I was.

Overall, I am really pleased to have had a good performance. I needed to do well, since I’ll be running twice the distance at Ironman Maryland in two weeks. I’ve struggled a bit in my running this summer, so an unqualified success today was necessary to keep my confidence strong going into my upcoming race. I can also rest easy knowing that my knee problems did not cause me any discomfort today, and my new shoe inserts worked perfectly so that I don’t have any arch pain, either. Running has not been nice to my body this year! My only advice to myself is to hydrate even more before my next race, and of course, go at a slower pace so I don’t overheat.

 

Air Force Half-marathon

Race: half-marathon
Date: September 16, 2017
Location: Dayton, OH
Time: 1:56:11
Overall Rank: 519 out of 4176
Age Group Rank: 44 out of 243
Results: http: http://onlineraceresults.com/race/view_race.php?race_id=59806#racetop

My goal for this race was to finish in two hours. But don't we always have a secret goal, one we don't share for fear that we don't make it? My secret goal was to beat 1:54:59, because that is my fastest half-marathon time. It is true that the Pittsburgh Half-Marathon--where I set my personal best--is a hillier course than the Air Force Half-Marathon, but when I ran in Pittsburgh I had a running partner (thanks, Dan), and a race always goes easier when you have a partner to keep you motivated and distracted. So, hills+friend = no hills + no friend. Anyway, I didn't set a personal best today because I didn't deserve to. I didn't prepare for this race like I should have. I only did two "long" runs this summer: a 7-mile run and a 9-mile run. I've had some motivation issues, I guess. But not today. I pushed myself harder than I had planned to. The weather was good and my body felt good. The race results show that I maintained a 8:02 pace for the first 5 miles. I did this by keeping up with the professional pacer running with the "1:50" sign. I started getting tired soon after the 5 mile mark, and I let the pacer get ahead of me. My legs felt good but my head felt weird so I started getting Gatorade at each aid station. The addition of sugary fluid gave me a tangible burst of energy each time, but it didn't last more than a tenth of a mile after each aid station. The energy was probably just a psychological response, rather than a physiological response. By mile 9, I had slowed to an 8:38 pace, and my hips were feeling stiff. I knew I was going farther now than I had done in my training runs, so I was wondering how long I could go. I figured I would at least keep running to mile 11. And so I did. But then I had to decide whether or not I would start walking a little bit. Noting the race clock, I saw that I was still on pace to better my goal of 2 hours, and a personal best was still within reach. I kept running, but my strides were getting shorter and shorter and I was not having fun anymore. With less than half a mile to go, I saw Shannan cheering for me, and her smile is so warm that I got the motivation I needed to keep going to the end. I am really pleased with my performance, and I am proud of myself for pushing through the last miles. I wonder, though, what would it have taken to run this race just 5.5 seconds per mile faster? That would have gotten me a personal best. I think the lesson I have learned is to (1) train better, but also (2) verbalize those secret goals and that might just motivate me enough to reach them!

Pittsburgh Half Marathon

Race: 13.1 mile run
Date: May 3, 2015
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Time: 1:53.13
Overall Rank: 2214 out of 14576
Age Group Rank: 163 out of 627
Results: http://results.xacte.com/?mid=79#

Miles 1-4 were easy but then I started to wonder if we were going at a sustainable pace. We were going at a 8:27 pace and that felt good but I knew there were many more miles to go. I was already starting to feel calorie-deprived or dehydrated (my breathing was good, my legs were fine, but I just didn't feel right). At mile 9, I got grouchy with Dan and told him I didn't care what our pace was...but then I asked what it was. At mile 11, I was lightheaded and groggy, so much so that I wondered what it would be like if I stumbled and fell to the ground. I decided I wouldn't do that, if possible. At mile 12, I knew I'd be ok, because we were almost done and the course was heading downhill. In fact, the last half mile was exhilarating as we picked up our pace and I seemed to float around on feet that no longer felt attached to my body. I set a personal best, lowering my time by 105 seconds under last year. It's not a big difference, but since my training was about the same as last year, it is reasonable to expect a pretty similar finish time.

Pittsburgh Half-Marathon 2014

Race: Pittsburgh Half-Marathon
Date: 04 May 2014
Location: Pittsburgh, Pa.
Time: 1:54:59
Overall Rank: 2743 out of 14665
Age Group Rank: 265 out of 822
Results: http://results.xacte.com/?mid=79

Congrats to all the runners today at the Dick's Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon! This was the second year I did the half-marathon (13.1 miles). Last year I finished in 2:02:17 at a pace of 9:20 min/mile. This year, I finished in 1:54:59 at a pace of 8:46 min/mile. I felt pretty good the whole way. Dan and I kept up a good pace through mile 10 and then I started drifting behind him some. I was still feeling good but I may not have been covering as much distance with each step. I was actually super pleased that it was mile 10 and I had gotten that far without any discomfort or negative feelings. The finishline was 3 miles away and I knew I could make it. However, miles 11-12 seemed to take for ever. Stupid hill. Dan had left me by then (good job!) and so I was trying to pick out people ahead of me to catch up to. I know I'm not very competitive, so I was trying to gather that spirit within me. But I couldn't keep up with my targets and I lost interest (or vice versa). I found it easier to pick up the pace in the last mile as we went down hill, and by the time I passed the mile 13 marker, I was totally sprinting. I will be sore from that. Ok, now a nap is in order.

Pittsburgh Half Marathon

Race: Pittsburgh Half-Marathon
Date: May 5, 2013
Location: Pittsburgh, Pa.
Time: 2:02:17
Overall Rank: 4,658 out of 14,039
Age Group Rank: 2,642 out of 5,450
Results: http:

Super-great experience shared with 25,000 other runners and upwards of 100,000 spectators. We started off at a pace a little slower than I would choose due to the crowd of people around us, but it was comfortable and I was having great fun joking with others, cheering on the spectators and bands, slapping hands of perfect strangers, and weaving around the course like a sure-footed and confident ungulate. I was jubilant. My running partner Dan would probably have punched my face in as I tooted like a train while running through highway underpasses. But I do that all the time, so he's used to it.


Crossing the Allegheny River into downtown Pittsburgh around mile 4.

I stayed pain free and felt perfect through mile 6. With each additional mile, it started getting tougher to act like a sure-footed ungulate. My quads started to hurt. The reality of only getting 6 hours of sleep the night before started to creep into my subconscious and moderate my mood. I still joked around but was more quiet. Our pace decreased a bit as the cheering crowds on the sidelines thinned out on the Southside. One highlight was seeing Danise and Joanne, and Dan's family cheering for use at the bease of the Duquesne Incline. Joanne had even made signs, one of which said "Go, Jim, go!" I am grateful for our cheering squad!

Having passed our family and friends cheering on the sideline at mile 9, I said to Dan "now I don't have anything to look forward to." In retrospect this wasn't an accurate thing to say, but my point was that I was sorry we had passed our friends and no one would be cheering specifically for us at the finish line. And while the finishline was less than 3 miles away, I was starting to feel more like a plodding rhinosaurus rather than a nimble gazelle. Not only was I exceeding the distance for which I had trained for, the race course featured a long, steady uphill segment from mile 10.5 to mile 12.0.

My quads hurt with each stride, and my knee was aching a little, and the soles of my feet were feeling raw. I encouraged Dan to run ahead and not let me hold him back. He decided to take me up on the offer at mile 11.5. As I watched him go, I was at first content to maintain my slowing pace but from mile 12.0 to the end I thought "if Dan can do it, so can I." I increased the length of my stride and pushed harder. My heart rate climbed from the low 160s into the mid 170s. According to my HR monitor my maximum HR was 195 but that seems unrealistic. I haven't gotten it above 185 in more than a year.

Nearing the finish line in downtown Pittsburgh

Anyway, I made it! The last mile was easy because I was ignoring pain, the cheering crowds had returned, and I knew I was just about done. One fun thing was that full-length marathon course re-joined the half-marathon course at the end (but in separately designated traffic lanes), and as I was nearing the finishline, the actual winner of the marathon was coming through, sparking a huge cheer from the crowd. That man had completed a full marathon in nearly the same amount of time it took me to run half the distance!

Here are my official stats:
Overall Time: 2:02:17 (my split time at the 10K mark was 0:57:50; I maintained a nearly equal pace of 9:20 min per mile throughout the race.)

This runner is happy the race is over, but he'd do it again!