The Comeback (Badass) Kid

February 16th, 2011 No Comments

I feel young even though I’m moving up an age group this year. So what the heck, yes, I am a comeback kid.

At the San Dieguito Half Marathon this past Sunday, I completed my first running race of 2011 exactly eight weeks since my injury successfully making my comeback to racing. I really enjoyed my first time doing this race. Both the atmosphere and the course were fun and fantastic. The course starts at San Dieguito Park near the Del Mar Fairgrounds and winds through the rolling hills of Rancho Santa Fe and loops back to the park.

As prescribed by my physical therapist, I completed a pre-(race) workout warm-up with some stretching. My right hip and glute are especially prone to tightness, so I’ve been fairly fanatical about my warm-up routine. I planned to run just under the 2-hour mark (a little less than 9:09/mile) with my CSUSM MBA friend, Daniel Rio. We even lined up in the back with all the “slower” people. {Big shout out to my good friend, Craig Durham, who completed his first half marathon.}

As it turns out, I ran most of the race faster than I expected. Daniel kept up with me for about 10K. We were running well under 9:00/mile, most of the time at about 8:30/mile. I typically slowed down to about 9:00/mile when going uphill. My legs felt great throughout, no pain or tightness.

After the halfway point, I started to get a little bored. And since I was feeling so good, I thought I would just kick it up a notch for the second 10K of the race. Somewhere up a long incline, I dropped Daniel. Of the last six or so miles of the race, I ran four miles at a sub-7:30/mile pace. Although there were still a few hills here and there, the back half of this course seemed like an overall slight decline. I knew I would get a great negative split for this race.

Finishing strong at the San Dieguito Half Marathon

Finishing Strong at the San Dieguito Half Marathon

My final time was 1:47:54 (thanks to Race Central for correcting my time – a lot of times were screwed up, even with the digital timing chip we used). I’m very happy with the result. It’s not a PR by about 12 minutes, but with only a handful of short training runs under my belt in 2011, I think this time was pretty awesome for a comeback race.

I credit my comeback to the regular, intense strength training with the physical therapist. And because of the obvious results, I’ve committed three hours of strength training to my weekly regimen as well as daily stretching and foam rolling. It’s been tough training on some days with two or three workouts in one day on top of working at a  full-time career. Some days I am just physically tired. Most other days I feel like I am on top of the world, dripping with sweat chasing a gym workout with a 4000-meter swim, run, or a bike ride.

So yea, not only am I the comeback kid, but I’m also a badass.

The Phantom Injury or Not

February 15th, 2011 No Comments

Darth Maul: (To Lord Sidious) At last we shall reveal ourselves to the Jedi, at last we shall have our revenge.

You’re probably wondering right about now: ”What does Star Wars have to do with your training?”. Absolutely nothing.

I just thought of that quote as I pondered my racing goals for 2011. I’m anticipating a banner year with lofty goals like:

  • Qualifying for Boston (not possible due to anticipated qualifying race occurring after new registration period closes as of 2/16/11)
  • Completing my first Ironman triathlon
  • Breaking 5 hours in a 70.3 race
  • Getting on the podium in a triathlon

Yep. These will be difficult to attain. But as Coach John Wooden said: “Goals should be difficult to achieve because those achieved with little effort  are seldom appreciated, give little personal satisfaction, and  are often not very worthwhile.”

Since the beginning of 2011 all my goals have been in jeopardy. Because of my hip flexors injury I sustained during the Tucson Marathon last December I’ve had to drop out of my first three races of 2011. The toughest one to drop out of was the Carlsbad Marathon where I thought I would have had my best early shot at qualifying for Boston. Since the injury where I had to stop running at mile 20 after 2 hours 30 minutes, I’ve run unsuccessfully with sharp pain occuring after:

  • 11 miles in 1.5 hours two weeks after the injury
  • 0.3 miles in 5 minutes four weeks after the injury
  • 1.5 miles in 20 minutes six weeks after the injury

But fear not. I’ve been very proactive about my recovery, visiting my doctor, getting massages, and *suffering* during physical therapy. After the third week of physical therapy (six weeks after the injury), I visited my doctor again because I was most displeased with my apparent lack of progress.

I’m glad I saw him again because he conducted an experiment with trigger point injections on me. Using a 1% xylocain solution, a local anaethetic, he injected directly into the pain trigger point on my right leg, below my right pelvic bone at the hip. The anaesthesia is temporary, lasting only 30 minutes. In addition to the temporary numbing I felt no pain when my doctor pressed on my hip flexors right on the point that had severe pain over the last few weeks. The hypothesis of this experiment was that my injury had already healed (soft tissue strains usually heal within 1 to 12 weeks) and the nerves were incorrectly sending pain signals to the brain while running. If the hypothesis was correct, then by the next day I should feel no pain and be able to run. If the hypothesis was incorrect, then by the next day the pain should return when the trigger point is depressed and especially while running.

Results: The experimental hypothesis was correct! Amazingly, I have been pain free since the injection. And the doctor and physical therapist have cleared me to resume my regular running training regimen.

Physical therapy has been the best part of my recovery. So far I’ve completed seven weeks of physical therapy for a total of 13 sessions. Each one-hour session consists of some stretching and intense strength training. By the end of the sessions I am dripping with sweat. I regret having stopped strength training a long time ago as I got busy with triathlon training because all the exercises that I’m doing in physical therapy are the same or similar to the exercises I did when I used to regularly lift weights at the gym. As a result of the physical therapy strength training and conditioning, I can feel my legs and core getting stronger.

Another lesson I’ve learned the hard way during my recovery time is the importance of doing pre- and post-workout warm-ups and stretching. Since I’ve been involved in this sport I’ve been pretty lazy with regards to properly warming up and stretching before and after workouts, especially running. My physical therpist has “mandated” warming up/stretching before and after workouts. I have to admit it’s kind of a hassle, adding on an extra 30 minutes before track workouts and runs as well as an additional 15 minutes afterwards. But if it keeps me performing at a high athletic level, then I don’t mind doing the extra time. At my age, you find that the muscles don’t recover as quickly anymore as well not being as elastic as they once were during my youth.

The number one non-negotiable exercise that I do at least once a day is using a stiff foam roller to massage my legs, hips, and glutes. It was extremely painful at first, but I’ve gotten used to it. It makes my sore, tired legs feel like new. Unfortunately, that’s another half hour of time. I typically just do it while winding down for the evening in front of the television, which minimizes the time impact.

Since my return to running, I’ve completed two track workouts at full intensity, a long run (about 10 miles for 90 minutes), and a half marathon race!

P.S. My physical therapist is the bomb. He’s a former collegiate basketball player with a doctorate in physical therapy. His name is Ryan Monagle and he practices at Personally Fit.

17 Seconds

November 25th, 2010 No Comments

Run for the Hungry 10KThanksgiving, 2010: Run for the Hungry 10K — I’m happy with the result of my last “tune-up” race before the Tuscon Marathon in two weeks. Official time: 43:29, 4th AG out of 63, 84th Overall out of 1,359. This is a new 10k PR for me.

Though it is slightly disappointing to miss a podium finish by 17 seconds, I know that the real prize is yet to be obtained.

Crushing the Strand

November 14th, 2010 No Comments

Silver Strand Half Marathon logoSilver Strand Half Marathon, November 14, 2010:

I love winter running season. I wish I had as much success in triathlon as I have had in running the past couple of years. But I’m sure in time with the excellent coaching/training I’m getting, I’ll get the podium results I want. But I digress. This post is about half marathon running.

My friend, Eric, and I were targeting this race as the last tune up before the big dance at the Tucson Marathon in December. My Boston Marathon qualifying time is 3:30, and my projected half marathon target time is 1:40, a time that I have already achieved. So for me, this was more about beating the 1:40 half marathon time that has eluded me for the last several half marathon races I have done. Both Eric and I had planned to complete this race in 1:35; I wasn’t sure if I had it in me to do that. So honestly, I was ready to

silverstrandpaceband2010

Modified Warm-up Strategy - 1:35

fall back to my goal of 1:39:59. To assist us in our endeavor we purchased pace bands from Races2Remember.com. We planned to use the Modified Warm-up Strategy as shown on the right.

I felt a little intimidated by this goal pace of 7:14/mile, especially given that during my last few races I have struggled to make the 1:40 time. While I still had a little doubt, I also had a lot of confidence coming off of my first sub-20-minute 5k last week at Shelter Island. Also, my training has been coming together nicely; I’ve noticed huge gains in speed and endurance.

Eric and I ran the first mile together at 7:12. Then he took off. I was a little irritated. He kept talking about passing up Coaches Luke and Felipe. I told him to just forget them and stick to the plan. But he blazed on ahead. I let him go because I was not going to spend my energy going at a sub-7:00/mile pace just so I could say that I kept up with the Breakaway coaches for a little bit. I settled into my own pace and mentally geared up for executing my race strategy. [You can check out my Lap Paces here. They are located in the bottom left corner. Using the drop-down menu, change Duration to Pace.]

The part of the race that worried me were the six miles that I had to do at 7:09/mile. Could I sustain that pace for 40+ minutes? In past races, I’ve started to feel tired at mile 7. So I was concerned about sustaining that pace. In past races, cramps in my calves have been a problem, so that was looming in the back of my mind. So I figured that after the first three miles of “warm-up,” I would just take it one mile at a time and see if my legs could carry me at that pace. Basically, the heart of this race for me was just a 10k at 7:09/mile. Mile 7 came and went; there were no cramps and I was not physically tired. I just kept telling myself: one mile down, one more coming up. P.S. I saw Eric stop at a porta-potty and I passed him up. Later I would learn that he sped up at the beginning of the race so that he could build up a minute lead to have time to go to the bathroom and run the rest of the race with me. Eric and I ran miles 8 through 10 together.

By the time I reached mile 10, I knew I would make my goal of going under 1:40. That thought wreaked havoc on my mental state. I started to “feel” out of breath. Still, I wasn’t sure if it wasn’t just more mental than physical. I told Eric: “Go ahead. I’m gonna easily go under 1:40.” Although, I verbally and mentally gave up the 1:35 time, for some reason I didn’t stay too far behind Eric during mile 11. He stayed within one minute ahead of me during that mile.

At the end of mile 11, as I made a U-turn to head to the Imperial Beach Pier for the finish, I found a second wind (miles 10 through 12 were on the Naval Outlying Field Imperial Beach). For some reason, the out-of-breath feeling went away. I found a renewed energy and my breathing became controlled and purposeful, rather than labored and heavy. After I passed the mile 12 marker, my Garmin elapsed time indicated 1:32. I thought 1:35 was probably out of reach and that 1:36 or 1:37 was more realistic. So I kind of put 1:35 out of my mind and focused on the finish sprint and seeing if I could beat Eric. In front of me I could see that I was gaining ground on him. I exited the airfield at about 12.25 miles where the final aid station was located. Eric was maybe 25 yards in front of me, and he went slowly through the aid station, taking a long drink. To my surprise he stopped for a second, which allowed me to draw even with him. I knew the final stretch to the finish line was just around the corner, so I said to him: “C’mon, let’s go!”.

Eric was out of gas. I could hear his labored breathing. As we made the last left turn, I saw the finish line and said: “There it is.” And then I took off. It was a little early for a final sprint with about three-quarters mile remaining, but I thought sprinting early would make it a contest to see who had enough gas remaining for a longer sprint. I passed about three or four people in front of me, including two women. I never looked back and sprinted faster as the finish line got closer. I kept expecting to hear Eric’s breathing behind me.

To my surprise, I crossed the line with an official time of 1:35:16. I crushed my goal! It turns out I also finished in the top 10 in my age group with 9th place. For the first time, I finished in the top 100 finishers in a semi-large race field (93rd out of 2,882 runners). I am pretty ecstatic! Eric finished in 1:35:38. We both ran a very good race. And I am well within my target to qualify for the Boston Marathon in December when I race the Tucson Marathon. I sure hope I have a good race day like today.

Shelter Island 5K 2010 – Let the Walls Fall Down

November 7th, 2010 No Comments

Shelter Island 5K logoThe 8th time did the trick. On  the third anniversary of my first real race ever, I finally broke the sub-20 minute barrier for the 5k distance. I’m so jazzed that I finally did it.

I love this race. Not only was it my first race ever three years ago, but the course is just so fast and flat. I finished the race in 19:56, 2nd in my age group, and 35th overall.

For the last several months the running training has been somewhat varied. I’ve been training hard for the marathon distance with the goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon 2012. Part of my training involved some speed work intervals at the track. I’m pleased with how much my fitness level, strength, and cardiovascular base have improved. My friend from Breakaway Training, Eric, and I have done extra speed workouts on our own. Lately, everything seemed to be coming together. Everyone noticed that I have been much faster at the track workouts.

My strategy for the race was to run the first two miles at 6:15/mile and 6:26 for the last 1.1 miles. It almost didn’t turn out that way today. I ran the first mile at 6:11. Eric caught up with me during the first mile, which made me feel much better. Originally, he was going to hang back and go a little slower. But I feel like I always perform better if I run with him or chase him. The lame thing about mile one was some guy running with a dog who passed us.

We ran mile two at about 6:17. It was nice to pass up the guy with the stupid dog. Eric moved ahead towards the end of mile two, while I could feel myself getting tired in the lungs and slowing down. With about 16-17 minutes elapsed, I was so relieved to make the final turn with about half a mile to go. Eric was around 15-20 seconds ahead of me. He’d be crossing the line soon at 19:38.

At this point, my lungs were burning pretty bad. I had an a-ha/deja vu moment. For two or three previous 5k races, I simply folded and threw in the towel. I had come very close to breaking this 20-minute barrier a couple of times, but when the pain became unbearable, I simply gave up. This time I decided it would be different.

For a few seconds I debated with myself about slowing down and giving up the sub-20 goal. With the finish line in sight, I knew I needed to make my last-minute sprint or I would not meet the goal. In spite of my lungs being on fire, I sprinted for the line relegating my thoughts about pain to the fact that the pain would just be temporary. In corner of my eye as I crossed the line, I saw the time clock flash 19:57. I made it!

First wall down for 2010, two more to go.

AFC Berlin Wall Still Standing

August 22nd, 2010 No Comments

AFC 2010 logoI don’t normally dream about racing, especially the night before a race. Typically, it’s very difficult for me to fall asleep and the night before the AFC Half Marathon was no exception. After getting all my stuff ready (translation: after procrastinating packing for the race), I finally lay down to sleep at 9:00 PM (though I wanted to be in bed by 7 PM). I seriously can’t remember if I slept at all. I slept so lightly that I felt like I stayed up all night.

I had set my alarm for 2:30 AM on race day (August 15, 2010) to give me time to prepare my breakfast and be on the road by 3:30 AM. I left the house on time to arrive at the home of my buddy, Eric, by 4:10 AM. He was driving us to the race parking lot. Eric and I had targeted this race to shoot for a 1:35 half marathon time. We were ready. We had a pacing plan. We each had a role: Eric was in charge of driving, overall time tracking, and mental fortitude. My main role was ensuring that we kept to our set pace plan for each mile.

Pre-race: Immediately after parking the car, I had to take my first bathroom pit stop, what would be a total of five before the race. For some reason, racing takes away my normal constipation tendencies. While I appreciate the extra “movements,” I’ve been finding that the timing of these bathroom trips right before races to be inconvenient. Fortunately, I brought my own toilet paper. I timed breakfast perfectly, 3 hours before the race start of 7:00 AM. I just had an energy bar and pre-race Infinit drink mix to consume. Eric and I made our way to the front of the crowds near the start line for the national anthem and official start.

Crossing the 10K Platform

Crossing the 10K Platform

First 10K: We ran the first mile at a comfortable 7:44 pace as a warm-up. It seemed easy especially since the first four miles of the race were downhill from Cabrillo Monument in Pt. Loma to downtown San Diego. I felt good and we both kept pace. At mile4+ we were about 10 seconds ahead of schedule overall. When we completed mile 5, Eric announced that he had a blister on his foot, was not feeling well, and could not sustain the pace. Immediately, I felt deflated. I guess I was depending on Eric to help me get through the race mentally. I didn’t expect that he would be “in trouble” so early in the race. I still felt good. My legs felt good. But I felt bad for Eric, and I toyed with the idea of just hanging back with him for the rest of the race. When he told me to “go ahead if you can,” I took off.

I decided to adjust my race goals and shoot for a “just under” 1:40 race time. Though my 10K split was not my fastest 10K ever, the split of 45:12 was still close to a minute within my 10K PR.

Second 10K: After crossing the 10K platform, we headed right towards Harbor Island, for me, the most boring and mind-numbing part of the race. I took my first drink at the next aid station right before mile 7. I need to improve my aid station skills because I dropped the first cup. I also need to practice drinking while running because it always makes me choke even though I don’t drink a whole lot of water when I pass through.

As I choking on my sip of water, I slowed down a little to recover. Eric was able to catch up with me. Finally as we made it around to mile 8, I felt better about the race course as I knew we would be leaving that lame Harbor Island loop and making our way to the heart of downtown. Feeling good I pressed forward harder and dropped Eric. I would not see him again until the end of the race. I was totally on my own.

Quadzilla II

Sprinting and Suffering into Balboa Park

By mile 11 I was feeling okay, much better than I felt in the previous year’s race at the same milestone. At mile 11 the race course starts its toughest portion, a slight uphill for about 1.5 miles, followed by a steep hill during the last part of mile 12 through 13. At this point, I was torn between pressing hard uphill and running conservatively, saving some energy for a last ditch sprint inside Balboa Park where the race would finish.

The Finish: My time goal of 1:39:59 was within reach, but I knew it would be close. Unfortunately, I chose the conservative route. And it cost me a sub-1:40 time by 17 seconds. I’m pretty sure I went up that last hill faster than I had in the previous year, but my last ditch sprint when inside Balboa Park was too little too late, and so the Berlin Wall still stands. I continued sprinting into the finish chute, and completed the race with a time of 1:140:16.

Honestly, I was pleased with my results, but mildly annoyed that my time was still over the goal. What pleased me about the results was that I got close to my half marathon PR on a difficult course. I obtained my PR at this distance this past February on a super flat course at the Surf City Half Marathon.

Eric came in almost a full-minute after me with a time of 1:41:15, a new PR for him.

With the 2010 calendar year more than half over, I’m recommitting myself to training harder and racing all out at the end of races. I’ll start with declaring my top race goals for 2010:

  1. Run a sub-20 minute 5K at Shelter Island 5K (November 7).
  2. Run a sub-1:40 half marathon at the Silver Strand Half Marathon (November 14).
  3. Qualify for the Boston Marathon at the Tuscon Marathon (December 12).
Eric and I celebrating after a good race. Please ignore my belly button.

Eric and I celebrating after a good race. Please ignore my belly button.

First Marathon

June 6th, 2010 2 Comments

Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Marathon

For once I am attempting to complete a race report upon completion of the race and not several weeks later. I still plan to report out on my races at the La Jolla Half Marathon and the Spring Sprint Triathlon, but those will have to wait.

I achieved a major milestone this morning by completing my first marathon, the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Marathon, in under four hours with a time of 3:51:28. Although I did not achieve my goal of 3:30, a Boston Marathon qualifying time for my age group next year, I am very pleased overall with my performance today.

The day started quite early, waking up at 3:00 AM to eat breakfast and change. Fortunately, I packed my race gear stuff the night before and put all of it in the car. I was out the door and headed to Qualcomm Stadium by 4:00 AM as planned. Surprisingly, it was barely enough time to make it to the start line. With over 30,000 runners competing in this event, I will be sure to leave even earlier next time so I don’t feel rushed and stressed out before the race.

After arriving at Balboa Park from the shuttle ride, I headed straight for the porta-potties for a last-minute pit stop. Unfortunately, the lines were so long that I finally reached the front of my line and finished my restroom obligatories with about five minutes to spare before my wave started at 6:16 AM. After the restroom ordeal, I dropped my gear back at the Gear Check (thank you, UPS). But then I realized that I had lost one of my nutrition flasks. I ran back to the bathroom area to look for it, but gave up when I couldn’t find it right away. My backup nutrition for the lost calories was to drink the Cytomax at the aid stations as needed for the first hour, and then use my two other flasks for the last two hours. As I ran towards the starting lines to find Corral #2, someone was singing the national anthem. I found my starting area with about 30 seconds to spare. As I maneuvered through a barricade, I accidentally stepped on someone’s toe. She told me: “You just stepped on my toe.” Thanks for that info. I said nothing and then we were off.

The weather was awesome, overcast. I began to believe that this was going to be the perfect day for the perfect race. My plan was to run the first 10K at 8:15, the second and third 10Ks at 8:00, and the last 10K+ at 7:45. I actually felt great for several miles. My biggest struggle was holding back and conserving energy. The cool weather made it easy to run, so I decided to just follow how my body felt.

I’m glad I was able to get all my mile splits in faster than 8:15 and sometimes faster than 8:00 because when the race headed on to the 163 Freeway after mile 8 for a three-mile uphill stretch, my faster splits earlier would allow me to stay on track as I ran up the hills slower than I wanted.

I ran into a co-worker who was volunteering at an aid station at Mile 11 and grabbed some water from her. Thanks for your support, Debbie!

Amazingly, even after 13.1 miles, I still felt great. I shoved the idea that I had another half of the race to run to the back part of my mind. I didn’t want to focus on that. Instead, I continued to focus on my arm swing keeping my arms pumping forward rather than swinging across my chest, keeping my strides light on my feet and letting gravity take the momentum trying to prevent my body from absorbing the impact, and finally relaxing my feet as they struck the ground so I wouldn’t cramp. Read the rest of this entry »

Running Blindly

May 9th, 2010 No Comments

Carlsbad 5000 retro logoThe Carlsbad 5000 is probably the most popular 5k race in the world. It’s flat and fast. On this course, I made my second attempt of 2010 to run a sub-20 5k. First off, it was not to be this time. I crossed the finish line at 20:43.

On April 11, 2010 I got to the race site early since parking is a big problem due to the race’s popularity. While waiting to start my pre-race warm-up routine, I got carried away reading a book and sipping on my Pre-Race Infinit drink. Unfortunately, I did more reading than sipping. Instead of thinking about my liquid intake right before the race, I drank the remainder of the Infinit drink, and immediately, I regretted it.

Carlsbad 5000

Carlsbad 5000

With about 40 minutes until race start, I did a short warm-up run and walked around for a little bit, waiting for my body to process all the excess liquid. Fortunately, I felt less water-logged by the time the race started. With about 15 minutes to the start, I powered on my Garmin 310 XT. I noticed the battery power was kinda low, but I didn’t think anything of it since the total race time would be brief. With 5 minutes to go, my Garmin powered down… dead battery. Apparently, I had left it on all night the other day, and there was no power left.

I know I’ve become dependent on the Garmin’s features. For runs, I use it to view my pace, speed, and elapsed time. For this race, I ran blindly, relying simply on my perceived effort and my experience from other races. I put negative thoughts out of my head and resigned myself to the fact that I’d be listening to my body rather than looking at my watch during the race.

Despite my lack of technology during the race, I ran a very good race and came within half a minute of my personal best. This year I was one of the top 250 finishers in the race so I got one of the cool First 250 Finishers medal.

Mainly Masters 2009

December 11th, 2009 No Comments

Last year when I ran this San Diego Track Club sponsored race, I lined up at the start line with some older folks. I immediately felt sorry for them, thinking that I was going to smoke them. When the race started, these 50 and 60-year olds left me in the dust, some of them finishing 15 minutes faster than I did. Well this year I was not fooled at all.

I put last year out of my mind, determined to run my own race at my own pace. My goal was 0:44:59. In order to finish the 10k race in under 45 minutes, I knew I would have to run close to a 7:00 minute/mile pace. I planned to do the first 5k of the race at about 7:10, and then to speed up for the second half to about 7:05 or 7:00.

Before the race I did a little 10-minute warm-up jog. At Fiesta Island you don’t have much of a choice of where you run considering it’s just a small island with one main circular road. After my warm-up the Open Division started, and I knew my event (Master’s) would be starting in about half an hour. As I lined up at the start line I saw the familiar faces from last year, the older, veteran runners from the San Diego Track Club. I blocked them out of my mind and thought only about the pace I needed to run. Despite the cold weather, I felt good, energetic yet relaxed.

The race started and I let all the old folks pass me, sticking to my plan and maintaining a pace of 7:10. Really the first four miles were kinda boring. I did bring my iPod and just listened to music and thought about stuff, what specifically, I cannot remember for the life of me. There was a woman who was running at about the same pace as me, so I decided to pace against her. It was kind of annoying at first since we ran side by side for four miles. But I got used to it. At first, she would try to speed up and go faster than me, but I stayed with her. After awhile, I guess she gave up because we pretty much ran together for most of the race.

After the first 5k, I tried to speed up a tad, but decided against it. I felt it would take too much energy out of me. So fortunately, I felt fine in maintaining the 7:10 pace. At mile four, I noticed that a couple of runners who had remained in front of me for the whole race had slowed down slightly. I even lost the pace woman somewhere in the middle of the fourth mile.

By the time I reached the last mile of the race, I was waiting for that “wall” to hit. The “wall” is what I call that physical feeling that I typically get when my lungs and legs scream “NO!”, and then I have to slow down. The weird thing is, the “wall” never came.

There was a husky, heavier guy who was ahead of me for the whole race, but by mile 5 I knew I’d be passing him soon since I never did hit the “wall”. As I turned around the final bend towards the finish with about 0.6 miles remaining, I decided to begin a gradual sprint. I passed the big dude. With about 0.3 miles remaining, I passed someone else. As I passed him, I could hear his feet picking up speed, and I knew he didn’t like that I had passed him especially with the finish line in sight. So I stepped it up to a full-on sprint.

After the race, I enjoyed some post-race treats and drinks. The one dude that I passed before the finish line told me afterwards that he tried to catch me but couldn’t. I thought that was cool. After changing, I went back to the finish line to check on my results: 0:44:09. I finished 25th overall. If I had raced in the Open division, I would have finished 18th. Go figure. Anyways, I thought that 25th was definitely not good enough to win anything, so after calling Maria and letting her know the results, I decided to leave.

As I approached the exit to the island, I decided to turn around and go back to the finish line to check the results one more time. I had realized that even though I finished 25th, those were the overall results. I had not really paid attention to how I did in comparison to my age group. It’s a good thing I went back because when I checked the results board, I discovered that I placed 1st in my AG. So I headed over to the awards ceremony gathering and collected a cool (but cheap-looking) plaque. Seriously, I would just rather have … yeah, that’s right … a cheap, plastic medal.

Overall, I’m very pleased. I set another PR for the 10k distance and won my age group yet again. Weird. But I definitely can get used to winning.

Run for the Hungry 2009

November 26th, 2009 1 Comment

I had signed up for this turkey trot event last Thanksgiving, but I skipped it due to rain. I know. Wimpy. But that was a year ago.

This year I followed through on the race, doing the 5K event. I’ve been chasing after breaking the sub-20 minute barrier for the 5K distance. To that end, I need to maintain a pace of 6:24 or better on average. On this Thanksgiving morning it was not to be. My official time was 20:44. However, it was good enough for 1st place in my AG (out of 44) and 18th overall (out of 1440). So for those results, I am extremely pleased!

My strategy for this race was to try to do a negative split as advised by my fellow Breakaway team member, Dave P. For the first mile, I planned to run 6:30, followed by 6:25 for the second mile, and 6:15 for the last mile.

After waiting around for almost two hours for the race to start, I was feeling pretty antsy. So when the gun finally went off, I felt relieved and energized. As the lead group of runners ran out ahead, I purposely held back and let several people pass me. It was difficult at first to see so many people driving forward past me. But after the first mile or mile and one-half, I had passed most of the people easily by sticking to my plan.

I executed the plan flawlessly for two miles. By mile 3 though I was feeling a little tired. I managed to speed up for a few seconds here and there with short bursts of speed, but my pace during that last mile would not be fast enough to guarantee me a sub-20 finish. As I approached the last half-mile, I thought about sprinting as hard as I could. But I hesitated, thinking that I would not be able to sustain the speed and slow down too much by the time I reached the finish line.

At the end, I was off by only 45 seconds, which is basically about 15 seconds/mile off pace. So close. My regret for this race was that I did not sprint all out for that last half-mile. And due to that small miscalculation, I missed my goal time.

After resting for a bit and snacking on some post-race grub (bagels, water, electrolyte drinks, and even some pizza!), I checked out the results board and learned that I had won my division. For the awards we were given these nice blue aluminum water bottles. You know already… I would prefer to have a cheap plastic medal for a prize. But I’m happy my name is in the record books as the first place finisher in my age group.

At first I was just going to let this sub-20 thing go for this year, and just try again in 2010. But my coach says I should go for it. So I’ve signed up for another 5K in a couple of weeks. I plan to use the same strategy, and hopefully, I’ll have more juice at the end for the sprint to break the 20-minute barrier.

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