Powerman Alabama Race Report

Long course duathlons hurt. That’s what I came away from Powerman Alabama with. Then again, this race in particular hurts all the more thanks to the 3600 ft. of elevation gain over the 80km course.

When I picked up my race packet on Friday afternoon, I was happy to find out that I would be a single digit number for the first time ever in a large race! For the most part, it seems that athletes were numbered by their estimated finish time so I knew I’d be in the hunt for a top 10 finish as I had hoped.

The plan of attack for this race seemed rather simple; cruise through the first run, negative split each lap on the bike, and attack the second run. On paper, or in my mind, that plan seemed like a good course of action. In reality, the hilly nature of the course and sheer length of the race made it very difficult.

Powerman Alabama Preview

Tomorrow, March 25th, will be my 4th ever duathlon and 27th multisport event at the Powerman Alabama Duathlon at Oak Mountain State Park just south of Birmingham, Alabama. I am "seeded" 6th as my bib number indicates; my first time ever being a single digit number in a large race.

I seeded myself at an expected time of 2:55:00 for the 10k run - 60k bike - 10k run event which breaks down to a pair of sub-38 minute 10k's and a 1:38-low 60k bike. That may be fairly challenging, but sub-3 hours is definitely within my grasp. My aim is to pace the race perfectly such that I negative split all three legs, and therefore, negative split the race overall with my 2nd run faster than the first.

Clemson Pi Day Challenge Race Report

This was a rather impromptu "race" but it was on campus celebrating Pi Day and there was food involved so why not? The race was slated as a 1 mile run - Eat 1/2 a Cheese Pizza - and another 1 mile run. In reality I found the runs to be 0.89 miles according to my Garmin Forerunner 610, but my approximate pace and overall place wouldn't have changed so it doesn't really matter.

With the short distance of running I knew it would come down to the eating portion, something I knew I wasn't awful at, but I had no idea how I'd fair. Maybe about 50 people started the race and I took off quickly settling into 2nd place. The guy in first was running well, but I figured there was little chance he'd hold on even to the pizza station. The first run was mostly downhill, but with a flight of stairs at the end. I lapped my watch and grabbed a plate of pizza. First run - 0.89 miles in 4:47.3 (5:23/mi. pace).

GHS Centennial Half-Marathon Race Report

With 5 weeks remaining before the Boston Marathon and days quickly ticking past, I ran my final preparatory half-marathon on Saturday. The race was the GHS Centennial Half-Marathon, celebrating the centenary of Greenville Hospital Systems, not of the race which was in its first year. The course began in Travelers Rest, SC and ran 10 miles along the Swamp Rabbit Trail to Greenville. The trail is an old railroad converted into a multiuse paved recreational trail and has a slight decline over the course we ran. As soon as we entered Greenville, however, we hit a mile long climb up around the baseball stadium before descending back through downtown, up another climb, and into the finish line.

I started out comfortably, but kept in mind how my Achilles was feeling having not been able to run most of the week because of it. I lead through the first mile in 5:45 and a group of three quickly established at the front. This select group included Fleet Feet runner Jon Stoehr, elite triathlete Daniel Moss, and me. Sensing my effort level rise slightly too high, I backed off and the others slowly opened up a gap on me. When I say slowly, I mean by approximately 10 seconds per mile… which may seem like a reasonable gap, unless you’re running on a trail that has multiple sections straight enough to see a minute or two ahead of you. At 6 miles, I was about 50 seconds back but could still clearly see the runners ahead of me because, in reality, I was still only a little more than 200 meters behind.