Nordstrom Beat the Bridge 8K Race Report

What a great morning to run a race.   Sunshine and temperatures comfortably at 60 degrees with the sun blazing.    Woke up at 5:30 am feeling better than I have in the last 5 days with the head and chest cold finally starting to lose its grip on me.   As I said in my last blog posting,  it's been a terrible week of being sick losing four days of training and barely even being able to work.  

Decided to race in my lucky Boston 2016 Marathon technical and got a laugh at my bib number being 2001 (Ethan's was 2000).    Fueled up with a few hundred calories with some high octane carbs on board, warmed up, rolled, and did the normal routine stopping at Starbucks for an American before picking up Ethan (who was out late last night at his Senior Prom for Bellevue High School and still wanted to run).     We were across the 520 bridge and parked on the UW campus by 7:30 and jogged easily over to Husky Stadium and the start of the race.     A few bathroom stops and an easy mile of running with strides to warm up and we were ready for the race to begin at 8:30.

I really had no idea what I was going to run today but after running a 6:00 .90 mile on the track yesterday I thought I might be able to pull something OK out after running 35:39 and 35:41 the last 2 years (with a 2010 PR of 34:12) over the slightly hilly 8K track through Montlake and across the University Bridge and then back through the U. District.

At the gun it took my about 15 seconds to get across the timing pad as a lot of folks crashed the gate from the front right before the beginning of the race which overloaded the first few minutes of running.     Once I got moving I new immediately this wasn't going to be my day.   I was lactic and laboring right out of the blocks.    I'd secretly hoped to run something sub 7:00 on the first mile and just hang on -- it took all I had to run a 7:24 mile-1 which I am sure is the slowest first mile I've ever recorded in running this event 11 times now.   Mile-2 which features some slight uphill and ends just before the right hand turn onto the University Bridge was 8:05 and I was gassed.   Heart rate was 166 beats a minute, sun was blazing and my legs were lactic city.      As I ran uphill across the bridge (the bridge is uphill about 2% - 3% for about 600 meters I just slowed down and said screw it -- accepting my fate.  

Mile-3 was a labored 8:20 before I finally got a little mojo back trying to run a couple of short downhills as fast as I could to make up time without losing it.   I settled in and ran mile 4 in a steady 7:55 -- again with my heart rate redlined and a final .97 uphill mile-5 in 7:28.      

So I guess this is what happens after you've been super sick.    It could've been worse but at the end of the day it was a beautiful morning.  I got to run with Ethan who also labored in the sunshine running a 32:19 and off his PR of 31:58 and well off his race day goal of sub 30:00.     There will always be this race next year and years to come.  

The big races are now on the horizon with the Marathon in September and a smattering of 5K's, an 8K in July and an August Half Marathon (not sure which one yet) -- marathon training formally kicks off on 29 May.  I need to get my butt in gear.

Sick Man

I've been really sick this week.  I really hate being sick -- but especially so when I am on a good training track and trying to peak for a race.

The last 3 weeks since my last race were all about continuing to build my aerobic base while sharpening my tempo and interval work for my favorite race of the season -- the JDRF Nordstrom Beat the Bridge 8K.   I had no inclination whatsoever after wrapping up an easy 8.3 mile on Monday with my heart rate in a great place that I was going to suddenly come down with a massive head and chest cold which hit me like a hammer on Tuesday night and continued to crush me Wednesday, Thursday and Friday wiping out what was going to be a couple of more short, but sharp intensity runs leading into Sunday's 8K.    

As anyone in Seattle is well aware, it's been a terrible stretch of weather here from October through this week (today being really the first nice day in a long time with more to follow).   Choosing to run outside as much as I can which means braving the cold and windy rains of the last 5 months has taxed my immune system as I've often come back completely drenched even when in full rain gear.     I heard on the news this morning that today (Saturday) is only the 6th sunny day in Seattle year-to-date with four of those prior sunny days actually falling in January.    Breaking a 110 year record for the most rainfall from any 7 month span in the history of weather keeping records in Seattle coupled with 145 days of rain the last 6 months has been a challenge to say the least.      The good news -- it looks like it's finally behind us -- and I am hoping this is the last of the nasty colds to pass my way at least until I get through my September marathon.

Tomorrow's race strategy and expectation is pretty much reduced to running mile-1 as fast as I can and then holding on to see what happens.   If I can get through mile-2 in around 14:00 and hang on over the uphill stretch of mile-3 maybe I can roll something respectable.     If it's not there it's a good 5 mile tempo run with my son Ethan who's hoping to break the 30:00 minute barrier.    And -- it's going to be a gorgeous morning for a run with temps at race time around 55 with blue sky.   I'll take it!

Race Summary - Top Pot 5K Donut Dash

It's already been 2 weeks since Ethan and I raced the Top Pot Donut 5K at Green Lake in Seattle.

It was a grey and rainy Sunday morning as Ethan and I got up early and made the 15 minute drive from Bellevue over to Green Lake in Seattle.   We quickly found parking near the starting line of the race about 45 minutes before race time and started our typical 5K warm-up routines jogging for a mile and then doing a mile of strides and 5K surge sprints to get the fast-twitch muscle fibers activated.

Coming into this race, I really didn't have high hopes for running a great time as my training intensity has been spotty especially in my tempo and interval workouts over the course of March and April.     My hope coming into the race was to comfortably run 7:30's and do something around 23:00 for the 5K -- which is a slow time for me when in peak shape -- but a reasonable goal after coming off a winter of rest after 3 marathons in 2016.    Ethan had just come off running a 1600 PR of 4:56 at a track meet on Thursday and was looking for something in the 18:00 range and under his cross-country PR which is around 18:30 for 5K.  

There were about 2000 racers that showed up for the race so the race chute at the start of the race was a little crowded; however Ethan and I positioned ourselves within the first few rows of runners (Ethan at the front) so we could get out of the blocks quickly and not be impeded by slower runners.  

At the gun we took off and Ethan quickly left me behind running his first mile in 5:45 or so.   I had already lost site of him at the mile-1 marker as I crossed it at 7:05-- feeling surprisingly comfortable and locked into a good tempo and breathing pattern.   I was worried I might pay for my aggressiveness but really didn't suffer too bad during the first half of mile 2; although, I felt myself slowing as the lactate was building in my legs.   As we ran along the Green Lake trail on mile-2, at about 1.7 miles there's a slight hill climb of maybe 50 meters from the lake path to the road which really gassed me.  I checked my garmin and saw I had slowed to 8:00 pace and my mile-2 split was up to 7:40.   I did everything I could to get my pace back up and managed to re-gain some composure (with higher suffering!) and drop down to 7:31 for mile-2.    With 1.1 miles to go I really tried to lock in and get my legs to turnover but I was stuck at this point at 7:30 pace and just went with it passing mile-3 in 7:30 and then picking up my pace to 6:39 over the final .14 or 220 meters or so to the finish line.    My official race time was 23:04 for the 5K; however, according to Strava I ran the Top Pot Donut 5K in 22:54 according to Strave Segments (If it's not on Strava - it didn't happen -- right?).   I placed 6th in the 50-55 age group (the 50-55 AG winner ran an incredible 5:31 race pace).  My PR in this race from 2010 was 20:12 so I was well off that accomplishment from 7 years ago. 

Ethan ran an 18:52 and 6:02 average pace having a bit of an off-race relative to his expectations.   He nonetheless finished 2nd in his AG and has a nice racing t-shirt to show off for showing up.    I expect Ethan to drop down into the low 17:00's this summer in road 5K's.      

Next race is the Nordstrom Beat the Bridge 8K next Sunday.      

The 2017 Racing Season Begins

I'm back!   I haven't posted to my running blog since my Tunnel Light Race Report last September.  In retrospect, racing 3 marathons in the span of 9 months -- each of which included a full 14-week training cycle may not have been the wisest thing.   After running a 3:35 last September in which I felt my fitness had peaked and began to decline in early August, I really fell into a "training pit" managing very little running output the last few months of 2016    I don't think it was as much a lack of motivation versus me simply needing a mental break after so much high intensity training over the preceding 9 months.      I started to really re-engage with my training while we were on Maui for two weeks over Christmas and New Year's 2016/2017 getting runs in nearly every day; albeit the quality of those runs were low as I'd lost even more fitness than I expected.

Family vacation to Cabo San Lucas April 2017 to the Resort at Pedregal.   My three year old daughter Jayden snapped this retro-looking picture at Mi Casa in downtown Cabo.  

 As of mid-May 2017, the quality and volume of my training is finally starting to trend positive as I am seeing my VO2 max and lactate threshold numbers trending positively as well as marked improvements in my running efficiency when running aerobically for volume.  

I'm planning on racing only one marathon this year.  The September Tunnel Light Marathon which I will run for the second consecutive year and use as my attempt to re-qualify for the 2018 Boston Marathon.   I ran a disappointing 3:35 there last September after hitting the half marathon mark in just over 1:41:00 and then fading over the last 10 miles as I hadn't prepared for the extra pounding my quads would take on a somewhat rocky 1.5% decline route.    I'll be better prepared this year doing a number of hard downhill tempo runs on that very route so as to prepare my quads for the extra wear and tear on race morning.  

What makes this year extra special is that my wife Vennessa will be running her first half marathon in early September (Labor Day Half Marathon in Redmond, WA) and my son Ethan (who just ran a 4:56 1600 PR) will be running his first marathon with me at the Tunnel Light Marathon in September.  It will be a late Spring and Summer filled with lots of training and run talk which is fun when it's at the family level.  

My approach to training this year is to continue to build on my aerobic base while increasing my running volume to 6 - 7 hours and over 40 hours a week.   At this point in mid-May, my annualized weekly running volume is just about to tick up over 30 miles as I begin to pick up my training intensity starting to touch 40+ mile weeks again.      From a training strategy perspective, I plan to stay focused on (re)building my speed base over shorter distances in May and June from the 100m, 400m, 1000m levels at sub-5k pace rates before transitioning into more of the strength-endurance portion of my marathon training where interval duration will expand to 1600's, 2000's, 3200's, etc.    From a tempo running perspective I will incorporate my standard progression from 8, 9 and 10 mile tempos throughout but will also build more tempo and marathon race pace simulations into runs where I've already run 10, 12, or 16 miles before then speeding up to tempo pace.    I find that the Hanson's method of marathon training - focusing on simulating the last 16 miles of the marathon from a stress perspective is what my body responds best to when it comes to translating months of training into a strong race-morning performance.    I recently heard someone say it was important to not be "a training day hero and race day zero".    Appropriate.

I'm still thinking about specific race goals for this year, but in summary I hope to re-qualify for the Boston Marathon which means I probably need to run a sub 3:27:00 in the marathon.  I also hope to remain injury free which is always a challenge as well as drop another 10-12 lbs of weight through the summer.  

Stay tuned as the 2017 racing season begins!