Myrtle Beach Half-Marathon 2013

I love Myrtle Beach. More specifically I love the Dasani Myrtle Beach Half-Marathon.

I ran this race last year and dropped my half-marathon PR from 1:20:07 to an outstanding 1:17:43, a time I haven't really come close to since. My race report from last year is here but reflecting on some of those splits after this weekend's race makes them seem slow.

Baby Tigers at the Expo

I left Clemson on Friday afternoon with Meredith who was running her first half-marathon and her parents were kind enough to house and feed me over the weekend! After meandering through painfully slow traffic entering Myrtle Beach we made it to the race expo and picked up our packets before checking out all of the vendors as well as the baby tigers that were there as part of the race's partnership with the Rare Species Fund. After the expo we headed home for a delicious pre-race dinner of manicotti and red velvet cake. After some last minute preparations we went to bed, excited about what lay ahead the following morning.

Saturday morning rolled around and I awoke from a surprisingly restful 5 hour sleep at 4:15 am. After a quick breakfast (my tried and true pre-race meal of rice krispies and 2% milk), we drove to the start and had a little bit of time to kill. Partly to help us relax, and partly for the fun of it, we decided to "warm up" by dancing in the parking spot next to the car, much to the enjoyment of some passers by.

Thirty minutes before the start we wandered over to the bag check area and made our final preparations for the race. Although it always pays off later on, I can never get used to stripping down to a singlet and shorts 15 minutes prior to a race in 40 degree weather. Nevertheless, it must be done and after a little bit the temperature doesn't seem quite so bad. After wishing each other good luck Meredith and I ventured off to our respective places in the mass of people at the start. It was time to focus on the 13.1 miles ahead.

Before the race I knew I had a very good chance to run fast. I've been joking since I ran 1:27:19 in Miami (3:12 faster than 2012) a few weeks ago that I could do the same in Myrtle Beach and run 1:14:31. I had no idea how close that would be to reality 13.1 miles later. As with last year's race, I had a modest goal of running 6:00 miles to start out and see how I felt.

The race's partnership with the Rare Species Fund provided possibly the weirdest start command I've ever heard. Instead of a gun, flare, horn, car, or verbal command we were sent on our way by an elephant trumpeting into a microphone. I quickly found myself in about 10th place and felt extremely comfortable. I recall last year's start being far more chaotic, but I settled into a nice rhythm and came through the first mile in  just 5:47, 8 seconds slower than last year and slower than many of my previous half-marathons. I felt great and just kept the legs turning, though, and rolled through mile 2 with a 5:50 split (11:37 for 2 miles). I dropped to 5:49 (17:26) for mile 3 and cruised through mile 4 in 5:54 (23:20). Unbeknownst to me at the time, that 5:54 would end up being my slowest mile of the race. A surge in pace from my first half running companion pushed mile 5 to 5:45 (29:05) and I reclaimed pacing duties for mile 6 in a steady effort to pull away from a pack closing down on us. Mile 6 came by in 5:48 (34:53) and I hit the 10k mark in 36:06; just off my PR of 36:02. Winding through Market Commons I began to string out the pack and used my natural ability to run fast on twisty courses to my advantage. I threw down a 5:41 mile 7 (40:34) before stringing off a 5k stretch a mere 5 seconds shy of my 17:21 PR. Heading away from Market Commons in mile 8 (5:40, 46:14) 15 year old Jack Ratterree caught up to me. At first I thought he was certainly in my age group, but when I asked he revealed that he was only 15! Regardless, I was happy to have someone to push the pace with down Ocean Drive and we clocked an 11:11 next two miles (5:35 & 5:36) to hit the 10 mile mark in 57:24! I knew I had run faster from 5k-15k than my previous 10k best (I estimated about 35:40) but I was still going strong and had just 5 kilometers to go to a certain half-marathon PR. Jack mentioned that 1:15 was within reach and while I calculated having to run another blazing 5k to achieve that, I knew sub-1:16 was very reasonable. I told Jack that he ought to watch out if I stayed with him, though, because I have utter confidence in my finishing kick ever since my sub-6:00 pace final quarter mile at the Kiawah Island Marathon. He pulled away slightly in mile 11 as my pace dropped to 5:43 (1:03:07) and my 12th mile turning back inland to the finish did little to close the gap going through in 5:52 (1:08:59). With the final few turns in sight I somehow found another gear to close the gap down and overtake Jack. A 5:38 split for mile 13 (1:14:38) and a final 0.16 according to my Garmin at 5:14 pace (58 seconds) brought me to the line in 1:15:36 for another huge PR!!

TrainingPeaks outputs the following times as my fastest (unofficial) splits during the race:
400m - 1:22 in the penultimate quarter-mile
800m - 2:45 last half-mile
1k - 3:27 last 1000m
1 mile - 5:35 starting at 15k
5k - 17:26 starting at 7 miles (5s off PR)
5 miles - 28:14 starting at 5.68 miles (PR by 41 seconds)
10k - 35:17 starting at 4 miles (PR by 45 seconds)
15k - 53:08 final 15k (huge PR)
10 miles - 57:10 final 10 miles (2 minute PR)

Meredith also managed to run a big negative split on her way to a 2:15:53 half-marathon debut, running her last 6.6 miles at sub-10 minute pace!!

It's hard to argue that this weekend's race was the best I've ever run. I may not have improved on my 3rd place in the 20-24 AG from last year, but I did come 11 places higher overall in 12th!

My next race is the Cary Short Course Duathlon on March 9th where I will certainly by fighting for the overall win. Knowing that I should be able to have a pair of stellar 4k run splits to bookend the 17.6 mile bike will certainly help! A week after that I'll be looking to run another fast half-marathon at the NYC Half before trying to qualify for the World Duathlon Championship at the Double Oak Duathlon (April 6th) and chasing my marathon PR (and a Fukuoka Marathon qualifying time of 2:42?) in Boston on April 15th!

Thank you to The Sport Factory, my coach Eric Limkemann, my family for their continued support, and to Meredith and her parents for a great weekend! The next couple of months look like they could be incredible!

ING Miami Half-Marathon 2013

A couple of weeks ago I flew down to Miami, FL to race at the ING Miami Marathon & Half-Marathon for the 4th year in a row (half in 2010, 2012, and this year; full in 2011). I was in great shape going into the weekend and it seemed as though very little could stop me from running a great time. The weather forecast never looked too bad, but I knew that could turn around in a hurry, and even if it ended up being just a little warmer or more humid than forecast I'd struggle to run as fast as I hoped to.

To put things in perspective, going into the weekend I had never run under 1:30 for just a half-marathon in Miami. I'd run 1:34:55 in 2010, 1:30:31 last year, along with 1:51 and 1:35 half-marathon splits on the two occasions that I raced Miami 70.3. Oddly enough, though, I ran 1:24:48 & 1:26:15 splits for each half of my marathon PR set in Miami in 2011. I don't recall it being quite that much cooler in 2011, but 10-15 degrees and less humidity can clearly make a big difference.

Annoyingly I also felt a slight ache deep in the back of my left thigh the night before the race. I tried not to worry about it too much but I mentally checked off all of the injuries that I seriously hoped it wasn't in my head. The following morning it didn't feel much better but I knew I could still make it through the race.

In the corral it was fairly crowded and with so many people around me I could feel myself begin to sweat before we even started to run! I knew I'd have to dial back my expectations a little so I judged my opening miles mostly on HR as I had done in my half PR race last February. The chaos of the corral made me forget to retie my shoes before the gun as I had intended, so I wasn't surprised when one came untied a mile into the race. While I've run most of a 5k with an untied shoe before, I wasn't about to do that for the next 12 miles so I laced back up shortly after the 1 mile mark (which I hit in 6:03). The second mile, including the brief stop to tie my shoe, was a solid 6:23 and I tried to remain as relaxed as possible over the next couple of miles. My HR was slightly above where I would have liked it to be, but the pace continued to lag - 6:19, 6:29, and 6:37 for the next few mile splits saw me drifting far off my target pace close to 6 minutes per mile. All I could do was keep pushing and try to avoid blowing up as badly as I did last year. 6:49 and 6:46 miles brought me to mile 7 and I thought to myself, "3 more miles until 10, then just 3 more after that."

With a few runners slowly beginning to pass me as I fell backwards through the field I plodded through the toughest stretch of the race with 6:45, 6:58, and 6:51 miles to bring me through mile 10. Just before the 15k mark a runner came up beside me and we began chatting about how we had both wanted to go way faster than we were running by that point. The camaraderie always tends to ignite my competitive spirit a little and I managed to pick the pace back up as we headed through the ING Cheer Zone at mile 11. I hit 6:41 for mile 11 and followed it up with 6:32 and 6:35 miles before kicking hard to the finish. According to my Garmin I ran the last 0.28 miles at 5:09 mile pace which doesn't necessarily surprise me after some of the kicks I've had in the last couple of months, but it does surprise me that it wasn't quite enough to close the gap in front of me completely.

All-in-all, I left Miami that afternoon having completed a half-marathon under 1:30 (1:27:19) and placed 82nd overall, a full 122 places higher than last year despite only going 3:12 faster. Later, when looking at the results, I noticed that the average times and times by place seemed to be about 3 minutes slower than last year. Having run 3 minutes faster under those conditions, then, makes me that much more content with the result. Finally, if we assume that the 3:12 I ran faster in Miami translates to that much faster next weekend in Myrtle Beach, I should be looking at running 1:14:31... but I'm not so sure it'll be that fast.

I also have to thank The Sport Factory for their help and support in my pursuit of my athletic goals as well as my dad, family, and friends for all of their support and hospitality. Incredibly I will be able to say I raced in Richmond, Kiawah Island, Miami, Myrtle Beach, & NYC between November and March without having to find a hotel, thanks so much everyone!

Adjusting to Uncontrollable Events

The title of this post probably sounds much worse than the situation really is. In fact, I never really had to think about how to adjust to the circumstances that changed earlier today. Just before 11 am this morning I was notified that the 2-20-2 Duathlon originally scheduled for February 23rd would take place on February 16th due to a scheduling conflict at the race site. This race is extremely low-key, but last year was my first overall multisport victory, during which I absolutely decimated the field by more than 12 minutes.

Despite being such a low-key race I was the 2nd person to register for the 2013 edition way back in mid-July last year. I knew that I wanted to defend my title and attempt to improve upon my course record of 1:22:48. With training going so well this year it seemed that both would be almost certain come race day. Unfortunately, fate intervened and the race was moved to the same morning that I will be running the Myrtle Beach Half-Marathon, the site where I set my half-marathon PR last year (1:17:43). Choosing to drop out of the duathlon rather than the half-marathon was a no-brainer for various reasons, not the least of which was my belief that I can also better my half-marathon time given the right conditions. While not being able to race the duathlon is unfortunate, I also know that it's not the end of the world. My course record is an extremely strong time that took two sub-12 minute 2 mile runs and averaging 22 mph on a challenging bike course to set and I have no doubt that it will stand up to the competition this year.

The developments left me with an interesting quandary, however, as it makes my first planned multisport race  of the year the Double Oak Duathlon on April 6th - my world championship qualifier. It is not ideal, nor practical, in my opinion for my first multisport race in almost 6 months, and first duathlon in 10.5 months to be my biggest race of my spring campaign. I turned to the internet in search of a possible race to replace 2-20-2 that would fit into my hectic race schedule. Enter the Winter Warrior Duathlon down in Bluffton, SC on March 9th.

Whilst there is every possibility of the Winter Warrior Duathlon being even less competitive as 2-20-2 was last year, it could actually suit my strengths even more. The format is a 2.5 mile run, an 11 mile bike, and another 2.5 mile run for a total of a mile extra running and 10 fewer miles biking compared to 2-20-2. Last year's winner won with a time of 1 hour and 10 minutes... I would aim for breaking the 1 hour barrier at the very least. The extra running distance and the flat out-and-bike bike course both play to my strengths and would allow me to see my competition at the midway point, whether that is to see the gap I must close down, or to intimidate my opposition with an insurmountable lead.

The change of schedule ultimately means slightly more travel as I'd be racing down near Savannah rather than close by Greenville, but it has some overall advantages:

• Instead of racing another 80 minute race the week following a hard PR attempt at Myrtle Beach I'll have 3 weeks to prepare for a strong duathlon performance
• A 1 hour race with almost half of that on the bike should still allow for a strong race in the NYC Half the week after
• The race would provide a vital tune-up just 4 weeks before Double Oak rather than 6 weeks before
• It provides a good reason to visit friends in Charleston after the race who I promised I'd see during this semester at some point

In the end the focus remains the same for this season - race my absolute best at the Double Oak Duathlon in order to qualify for the World Duathlon Championship and make a big statement.

2013 Week #1 Recap

I couldn't have asked for 2013 to start much better than it has for me athletically. Having trained far more consistently over the past month than I have in a long time my two low-key races last week showed that I am in great shape for so early in the season.

NYRR Thursday Night at the Races 3000m

On January 3rd I went into New York City to run at the Armory for the first time. The Armory is one of the fastest indoor tracks in the world and now plays host to the world famous Millrose Games each year. It was my first indoor track race in almost 4 years, and first time ever running the 3000m distance. I knew my PR outdoors in high school was around an even 10 minutes as I had run 10:40.4 as my best ever time for 3200m. I thought I'd have a good shot at breaking 10 again, despite that being my outdoor PR from when I regularly broke 2:10 for 800m and 5 minutes over 1600m - two distances I certainly couldn't compete with my high school self at right now. Nonetheless, I took off in the middle of the pack and came through the first 200m in a quick 36.6 seconds. To run 10-flat I'd have to maintain 40 second laps so when I came through the 400m mark in 1:13.8 I knew I was well ahead of pace. I consciously allowed myself to drift back from the lead pack and started to settle into laps right around the 40 second mark. The next 2 laps were actually dead on 40 seconds apiece followed by a 39.2 second lap to hit the first kilometer in 3:13.1. I then proceeded to rattle off 5 more laps of 39.1, 40.0, 40.7, 40.7, and 40.7 seconds to reach 2000m in 6:34.2 which may also have been a new personal best over that distance. I struggled a little over the next 800m running laps of 41.9, 42.0, 42.5, and 40.9 seconds to reach the bell lap with the clock at 9:21.4 - I had to run under 38.6 for the final 200m to break the 10 minute barrier. 37.2 seconds later I hit the line with a new 3000m PR of 9:58.6! Although I didn't place particularly well against the high-level of competition (22nd fastest on the night which put me right in the middle of the field), I was overjoyed with my time.

Boston Buildup 10k

Three days after my 3000m race I lined up for a local 10k in Rowayton, CT. Despite being a local race, it tends to attract a competitive field as it's the first and shortest race of a Boston Buildup series that features progressively longer races for athletes leading up to the Boston Marathon in April. I ran this race 2 years ago and struggled to a 39:19, a time that certainly did not reflect my fitness at the time as I ran new half-marathon and marathon PRs the following week and 3 weeks later, respectively. As I mentioned in a recent post, however, I have become increasingly confident in my racing ability over the past year and I've enjoyed a good amount of success that I feel has stemmed directly from that extra mental edge over my competitors.

At the start I saw a pair of runners who I knew would beat me, even if they had a bad race they'd probably beat me, and then there were several others who I thought might be close. One of those I'd knew would be close to me was Nick, the runner I had outkicked over the last mile of the 5k I won just 3 weeks earlier.

The course doesn't lend itself to a negative split very well at all. In fact, it doesn't really allow for a good even split run. The first couple of miles drop straight downhill to the shore of Long Island Sound before leveling out to reach the 5k mark. The next 5k features several challenging uphills and a long stretch in the 5th mile that seems fairly flat but steadily gains elevation. To put the icing on the cake, at 5.5 miles there is a steep quarter-mile climb before the relief of a slightly downhill stretch to the finish.

The race went out fast. I am used to going out fairly fast as I tend to go to the front in races, but this time I didn't really have a chance. Through the first mile in 5:39 I was sitting way back in 8th or 9th. I gradually moved up during the second mile but was still sitting 7th despite dropping down to a 5:35 second mile and hitting the 2 mile mark in 11:15. Nick was about 15 yards ahead of me and it was beginning to seem like he wasn't going to come back but I waited, knowing that there was plenty of time left to strike. I hit the 5k point in 17:45, just 8 seconds slower than my time 3 weeks earlier. With Nick still ahead of me I knew he had just broken his PR over the distance, surely he couldn't hang on much longer!

As we hit the first few big hills I maintained my effort and caught Nick. Now I was up to 4th overall and I could feel 3rd place within my grasp which would have been "best of the rest" in my opinion, given how far ahead the 2 leaders were. On the long straight rise in the 5th mile I did my best to close down the gap to 3rd place but I slowly lost ground. Just after 8k my focus turned to maintaining 4th as a developed a painful side cramp. Doing my best to keep going and aleviate my cramp as best as I could I managed my only mile over 6 minutes up the steep final climb. I still felt like 3rd was almost with reach but even my final quarter mile at 5:14 pace couldn't close the gap enough.

I'm still very happy with my 4th place overall in a fairly competitive race that saw 13 runners break 38 minutes, and I managed to hold off the 3 close behind me who also broke 37 minutes. My time of 36:35 is also my second fastest 10k ever and on a very challenging course, that bodes well for my upcoming half-marathons!

Training Update

So far in 2013 training also couldn't be going better! I'm finally into a great routine of doing my workouts and I am determined to execute each to the best of my ability whether that means suffering on a trainer to do bike intervals or easing back for a light trail run. In the first 9 days of the year I've trained for 8, it's almost a shame that I happened to have a rest day to start off the New Year!

Week 1 was a fairly light training load with the two races and an off day for New Years, but for January 2nd-6th I hit 18.54 miles of running and rode 24.01 for an easy recovery ride on the trainer. I am going to add a tab at the top of this blog to keep a log of my weekly training miles and time. This will also hold me more accountable to getting my workouts done!

January-May Preview

With the cold winter weather upon us, the early months of the year have always been my favorite months to focus on improving my run fitness. Two winters ago I broke through into marathons with a shocking 2:51:03 in Miami improving my PR by almost 28 minutes! Last year I was running extremely well building up to the Boston Marathon and lowered my half-marathon time from 1:22:33 down to 1:17:43 in the span of a month. Unfortunately a foot injury, but primarily the heat, kept me from running fast in Boston but I rebounded and raced well for the remainder of 2012 including 3 overall victories.

In 2013 the year will start off in much the same way as 2012 with 3 big half-marathons mixed in with some serious bike training in preparation for 3 duathlons that I hope to be competitive in.

My spring schedule (aside from a couple of tempo races this week) looks like this:

• January 27th - ING Miami Half-Marathon
• February 16th - Myrtle Beach Half-Marathon
• February 23rd - 2-20-2 Duathlon (Defending Champ & CR Holder)
• March 17th - NYC Half-Marathon
• April 6th - Double Oak Duathlon (World Championship Qualifier)
• April 15th - The Boston Marathon
• May 11th - Clemson Triathlon
• May 19th - Shamrock Duathlon

Three half-marathons, three duathlons, one marathon, and one triathlon. Bring it on.

2013 Goals & Resolutions

Now that it is officially 2013, here are my athletic goals for the coming 12 months:

1. Qualify for and race well (AG podium?) at the World Duathlon Championship in Ottawa in August
2. Set a new marathon PR at the Boston Marathon in April (sub-2:51:03)
3. Break my half-marathon PR (1:17:43)

In order to accomplish these goals I have 3 resolutions to stick to everyday:

1. Train diligently and consistently
2. Eat better and stay hydrated
3. Stretching and strength work are important, do them!

If I can do those first 2 things everyday and the last when I am supposed to, good things will happen this year and I will accomplish all 3 of my goals.

Wrapping up 2012

I haven't written any race recaps recently, but that doesn't mean I haven't been racing. For a full summary of my results this year, see the "2012 Results" tab at the top of the page.

After my average performance at the SECTC Championship race at Rev3 South Carolina, I shifted my focus back to running intending to shoot for a new marathon PR at the Kiawah Island Marathon on December 8th. In preparation for that race I ran the Richmond Half-Marathon on November 10th and the Pequot 5 Mile Thanksgiving Day race (for the 6th consecutive year).

Richmond Half-Marathon

In Richmond I wanted to run fast, and felt that I was in reasonable shape but it was just not my day. After running a good pace (at way too high of a HR) for the first 6 miles or so I began to struggle. For only the second time ever I stopped to use a porta-potty in a race when my stomach rebelled against me. From there it was a struggle over the remaining miles but I eventually stopped the clock at a shade under 1:24:00 for a reasonable time. If you took off the 1:23 of my bathroom stop I would have run faster than my half PR as of 12 months ago.

Pequot Thanksgiving 5-Miler

After Richmond came the Thanksgiving 5 Mile race that I have run every year since 2007. I felt like I would have a reasonable shot at a course PR (29:07, 2010) and went out hard shooting for a sub-29 time. In the end I came up just a little shy of 29 minutes but stopped the clock at 29:03 for 29th place, which is considered an "Elite Finisher" (top 30) due to the strength of the field the race attracts. For reference, the overall winner was a varsity runner at Villanova, the runner-up is a New England HS mile champion, and various other elite finishers ran for good NCAA programs.

Kiawah Island Marathon

The Kiawah Island Marathon came too soon, and I was seriously undertrained, but I gave it my best shot anyway. Unlike in Erie in September, I was never really on pace for my PR of 2:51:03 but I was certainly on sub-2:55 pace through the first 18 miles. At that point I began to lose contact with the group with which I had been running most of the race and started to slow slightly. I kept it together with mid-7 minute miles until the final mile where I picked off a few extra places to make it back to 20th overall. With a huge kick - my last quarter mile in 1:29 I broke 2:58 for the third time ever, and for the second time in the last 4 months!

Holiday Run for Toys 5k

The weekend following the Kiawah Island Marathon I arrived home from Clemson for winter break. I decided on the long drive home that I would run a local 5k the following morning. The morning looked cold and slightly rainy, but I made it to the race ready to run. After taking off hard in the first mile I settled in to a steady tempo for the second mile with all the confidence that I could out-kick the one runner with me. Hitting the 2 mile mark under 11:30 I proceeded to blitz the remaining 1.1 miles in 6:10 with an ever-increasing tempo. I hit the line in 17:37 for the win by 14 seconds, my narrowest of my 4 victories this year.

Overall 2012 was a very good year for me. I succeeded on my mission to win more races including 2 incredible victories at the 2-20-2 Duathlon back in February and the Lightfoot 11-miler in August, and I also became significantly more confident about my running. In all 4 of my victories, I never doubted I would be successful, even in my 2 close wins where it took some outstanding last miles in both races.

To be successful given my goals for 2013, I will need to use all of that confidence and be far more diligent with training, something I've done very well over the past few weeks being home. I'll write a post with my 2013 goals following this, but it could be a big year!

Rev3 South Carolina Race Recap

Last week, I stayed in Clemson for fall break so that I could race just down the road on Sunday in Anderson, SC. It was my 4^th Rev3 race and I continue to be impressed with their organization and the production of their events. Prior to the race, my coach and I discussed the possibility of coming off the bike around the same time to start the run. He was competing in the pro field over the half-iron distance while I would be taking on the SECTC Collegiate Championship event over the Olympic course. We knew it would be fairly close off the bike and we’d be running about the same pace for the run.

My race started well, for about 5 meters I was actually leading on the swim! I had started on the far left of the field and stayed on the shallow side which meant I could easily run further than everyone else. My lead was short lived, however, and I rapidly faded to the back half of the pack, settling in for my longest swim in a long time. The swim ended up being about 1.1 miles – not too good when it’s the weakest leg for me. I was out in 35:54 and, with a decent transition, hit the bike course. I could feel the lack of recent cycling (and swimming) but I did my best on the bike passing a couple of teammates (Lee and Nick P.) along the way. I couldn’t quite hang onto a small group that formed early on but I entered T2 just behind one of the two other riders. In the end, I managed a 1:07:15 split which was just 33 seconds shy of my time last year and was good enough for the 3^rd fastest split by a Clemson Tiger on the day. I felt good starting the run and passed an Auburn athlete (Robert) early on who had seemingly thrown in the towel for the day. I knew that he usually ran sub-36 minutes off the bike so I should not have been catching him, but he was jogging along with one of his teammates well placed in the women’s race.

I hit 6:16 at the first mile and felt good so I continued along, passing several more runners on my way. Mile 2 in 6:27 brought me to the start of a very hilly out-and-back section that caused me to slow slightly to 6:45 miles for the next two. With almost no one near me – ahead or behind – at the turnaround, I became slightly complacent in the final two miles relinquishing to some fatigue and slowing further to 7:12 and 7:02 for miles 5 and 6. With about half a mile to go, I realized Robert had left his running companion and taken to running his best. I made him work to catch me, running my last few hundred meters in an ever-quickening 46 seconds (5:10/mile), culminating in an all-out sprint up the finish chute. Unfortunately, Robert got me at the line officially by 0.167 seconds, however having started the run a few seconds back, I can say I had a faster run split. My run of 41:09 was the 2^nd best put up on the day by my team, and is a significant improvement upon my disastrous 44 minute run at Rocketman back in August.

Overall, my race was average. I could have swum better, I could have biked faster, and I definitely could have run faster – but with almost no consistent training lately it was acceptable. Heading into the triathlon off-season my biggest goal is to be more consistent in training. I race okay with little training, but I know I can perform at a much higher level if I get out and put in the miles regularly. I made a good step in the right direction this week, logging my first 40+ mile running week since February.

I have some big goals for the next 12 months so stay tuned for a preview!

Erie Marathon at Presque Isle Race Report

This past weekend I travelled up to Erie, PA for the Erie Marathon at Presque Isle. I really can’t say anything bad about Erie or about the race. My goal heading into the weekend at a bare minimum was rather simple; qualify for the 2013 Boston Marathon.

As I posted in my post on Friday evening, the desire to run Boston again next year came about when I visited Wellesley over the summer. Driving along the marathon course made me want to run again. The only problem was that I didn’t have a qualifying race recent enough for next year’s race. The registration period for the Boston Marathon began last week and continued this week with their new rolling process admitting the fastest runners first. To be on the safe side, in case the race fills this week, I knew I had to run a race before this week to qualify. A quick search led me to the Erie Marathon and I soon signed up. 

Erie Marathon at Presque Isle Preview

It's Friday evening, I'm lying in a hotel room in Erie, PA ready for what will be my 4th marathon on Sunday morning. The decision to run a marathon in mid-September came suddenly about 9 weeks ago when I visited Wellesley, MA for the first time since the Boston Marathon back in April. Driving parts of the marathon course gave me the urge to run Boston again next year but there was just one problem, I don't have a Boston qualifying time in a race recent enough to count for next year's event! That meant I needed to run another marathon (well) in order to get into the 2013 Boston Marathon. I was, and still am, planning to make a concerted effort to break my PR of 2:51:03 at the Kiawah Island Marathon on December 8th, but there's a very good chance that Boston registration will close before then. The two-week registration period began last Monday and is essentially a rolling process for those who have qualified by more than x-minutes faster than their qualifying standard for the first week before being open to all qualified runners in the second week. If the field has not been filled by the end of the second week, then registration remains open on a first come, first served basis until the race is filled. To be on the safe side I chose this weekend as the last realistic chance I had to qualify and be guaranteed to get into Boston provided I run under my qualifying standard of 3:05:00.

So that leaves me here, in a hotel room in Erie, 9 weeks later.

Recap of Recent Races

It's been a long time since my last race report back in May. I've tried to keep my results page up-to-date since then but I just haven't had the chance to write up any race reports. Here's a summary of my results in the main races since I took 3rd in the Shamrock Duathlon:

May 28th - Jim Fixx Memorial Day 5 Miler - 31:58 - 12th place, 2nd AG

This race was hot. I wanted to use it to get back into running fast over longer distances before Rev3 the following week but it turned into a sufferfest after about a mile and a half. As I had done towards the end of the Shamrock Duathlon, I almost threw up - but this time I was only a mile into the race. My best guess is that I was slightly under the weather for both races and simply couldn't handle being pushed to the limit.

June 2nd - Rev3 Quassy Olympic - DNF (crashed on bike)

The Rev3 Quassy Olympic race was supposed to be a longer race to get in some racing before hitting the local sprint circuit hard over the summer. I came out of the water with a reasonable swim for me around 28:20. Rain had intermittently been soaking the course throughout the morning but I came out of transition confident and ready to fly on the bike. Less than a mile into the bike, before I had even got my feet into my shoes, my race was over. I hit the deck at the first turn and sliced open my left knee. I wanted to continue, especially having never DNF'd a race before, but a second look at the gash in my knee left no doubt as to what the smart decision was. I was transported back to the medical tent where the volunteers were extremely nice. One doctor even managed to put the 3 necessary stitches in my knee under the tent in the cold. Later that afternoon I snapped the picture to the right. I was fortunate to only require 3 stitches but it would still take me out of being able to run for a little while.

Shamrock Duathlon Race Report

Yesterday, May 20th, was the Shamrock Duathlon in Glastonbury, CT. It really marks the beginning of my summer race schedule with no more than two weeks between races now until September, and likely no more than three until my entire year of racing culminates in November!

Heading into this race I knew several things. One is that I'm pretty good at duathlons but to be among the best in the country I still need to improve on the bike, and even on the run as well. If I'm going to be competitive at Duathlon Nationals next spring I'll have to run sub-17 for the first 5k and then keep up on the bike. Another thing I knew was that my run form is slowly returning after my Boston Marathon / Collegiate Nationals double 5 days apart last month. On Thursday I felt great in my track workout clicking off 400s in 80 seconds on less than a minute of rest. Finally, along with the first part, I knew I'd be reasonably competitive, but whether that meant top-3 or top-10 overall would depend entirely on the competition. I was certainly hoping for the former, especially after discovering my race number was 3, my second single digit multisport number this year!

Running by Feel

We live in the age of technology, much of which can provide valuable information about our training. It has never been easier to share workouts and files between coaches and athletes, but along with technology comes an unnecessary reliance on it.

To start off, let me preface this by saying that I am a data nerd. I am the kind of person who gets a little frustrated when I forget my HR monitor for a run, it doesn't want to work, or if my cadence sensor on the bike is having a fit and doesn't pick up that day. Spreadsheets, numbers, times, distances, are my thing. I wrote my supplemental essay on my college application about how numbers play an integral role in my life. When a friend shared this article on Twitter the other day, I laughed at the workout personality given for my zodiac sign:

Marathons

Why we run them and some advice to make the most of it!

Hundreds of thousands of people choose to put themselves to the test every year by running a marathon; all 26 miles and 385 yards of it (or 42,195m for all you metric folk). Anyone who has experienced running a marathon can probably remember their first one. In most cases, my own included, the last hour or so of running in that race was likely the most painful athletic experience they had suffered through to that point.

Quite simply, people should not run 26.2 miles as fast as they can simply for the satisfaction of having done so. Yet the marathon market continues to explode and not only do we punish ourselves, we pay for the luxury of doing so. Consequently, the market price of a marathon can tell us the approximate utility, or "satisfaction" of running a marathon, which would be around $80-$100 for most, and up to $150 for some of the bigger marathons. Taking away the perceived value of the "free" t-shirt and other swag, we are left with the market value for 26.2 miles of consecutive running so that we can say we did it. Why is it, then, that the market value for such an activity is upwards of $70, $80, or even $100 dollars?

In three words: satisfaction, socialization, and culmination.

Recent Training and Summer Preview

With the close of the spring semester, I am now heading home to Connecticut for the summer. My goal this summer is to put a big emphasis on solid, consistent training in order to perform at my best in races and to have a great base heading into the fall SECTC (Southeast Collegiate Triathlon Conference) season.

Recently, my training has been a bit inconsistent, from being injured and demoralized by not being able to run leading up to the Boston Marathon, to being slammed with waves of school work that completely threw off my schedule. In the past week, however, training has been improving and I've swam and biked each three times in the past 6 days, simply alternating days. Yesterday, I also added my second run since Collegiate Nationals, and made it through the hilly 6 mile trail route still on my feet and at a reasonable pace given the terrain. With a 2500 yd swim workout coming up today, I will have swam a personal greatest distance for 7 days of 9200 yds, biked 116.5 miles on 3 rides, and run 10 miles in a week with essentially no planned running. I know that if I continue to execute my workouts consistently over the next several months, I'll see some stellar times in races this summer!

Collegiate Nationals Race Report

In the days following the Boston Marathon I experienced the usual post-marathon stiffness and noticed that my quads and calves really did hurt that much more from all the downhill, but there was something else too. Two days after the race, on Wednesday afternoon, I received an email from a Clemson teammate exclaiming how it was just 2 days until Collegiate Nationals!

I knew it was a crazy plan to begin with, but crazy is right up my alley. I sacrificed my scoring spot on the Clemson roster because of Boston so my Nationals performance didn’t really mean much, but I had no plans of just going through the motions either. My plan was to go as fast as possible, just 5 days removed from a marathon.

Boston Marathon Race Report

Monday’s Boston Marathon went down in history as one of the hottest and toughest in the 125 year history of the race. The field as a whole was the fastest ever after the improved entry process allowed the fastest qualifiers into the race first. With my 2:51:03 qualifying time from Miami a year ago I was given bib number 1154, the 1054^th number assigned to the amateurs in order of qualifying time.

I arrived at the Athlete’s Village early, around 7:15am to be safe and in doing so actually got to drive right up to Hopkinton High School to be dropped off by my mom. Despite my early arrival there were already hundreds of other runners milling about preparing for the race. It was by no means “hot” at 7:15, but I was perfectly comfortable in just a short sleeved shirt. Around 8:45 I got up from the spot I had secured in the shade for some water. In the sun the heat hit me like a ton of bricks and by the time I had made my way down to my corral at 9:30 the temperature had officially reached 80 degrees at the start.

At the start I walked into another Clemson runner who lives in the same apartment complex as me. He told me that he had been hoping to go under 2:40 and still wanted to run a fast time despite the heat. I had no intention of going out very fast at all but my hopes of beating him seemed to be dashed by hearing about some of his training. My workouts had been pointing towards a 2:45 for me in good conditions, but that was before an untimely foot injury 12 days before the race that left me unable to run until race day. Under good conditions, though, I would have likely still been able to go under 2:50. With the extreme heat I made my goal to simply finish running down Boylston Street.

Race to the Rock Race Report

A few days ago I was entirely thinking that my next race would be the Boston Marathon. In a way it was, is, and will be but yesterday I participated in the Race to the Rock on Clemson's campus to benefit the library. Now you may be wondering how it could possibly not really count as a race. It's quite simple, I ran the 5k as miles 14, 15, and 16 of my 20 mile long run.

The race began at 8:30 am. My plan was initially to run 15 miles before the race and just over 2 miles as a cool down afterwards. I figured that meant I'd be heading out from my apartment at around 6:20 am. I ended up starting my run at 6:48 am, so it's rather impressive I managed to get the 12.7 miles in that I did before the race started.

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.