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Race Review: Lake Minnetonka Half

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Wow. You could not have asked for a much better day to race. Mid to upper 40’s at the start with a slight breeze off the lake.  It was only in the mid-50’s at the finish.  Unfortunately, my race performance didn’t match the quality of the day.  But first some details.

Packet pick-up went smoothly at the Wells Fargo near the starting line.  A spacious and un-crowded room at about 7:15.  Picked up my bib number – 381 and then my timing chip.  Went to pick up some nice looking shirts and they only had smalls.  I’m not sure how you make that mistake when the race filled up ahead of time.  Seems pretty simple to place an order and get your shirts in time.  They are mailing them to us at a later time.  I jogged the 1/4 mile to the lake shore and warmed up a little bit before heading back to the start.  We were delayed for several minutes due to our missing police escort.

When the siren blew we were off.  I started a few rows back and went out what felt really slow.  I let a good number of people pass me and tried to stay very relaxed. I checked my Garmin pace and slowed down even more!  The first mile went along the Lake and then up a little hill where I saw my wife and we came through mile 1 in 6:47. I promise it felt a lot slower (the mile was a little short).  So I slowed down a little and didn’t push as we climbed the steepest and longest hill of the day. We kind of meandered through the countryside occasionally getting a glimpse of the lake through the huge houses. I tried to maintain my pace even with the mostly downhill coming through mile 2 in 7:13.  Ok and even 7 pace that is pretty good.  We continued a little bit before turning on to a main road – where I was expecting to see my wife and be able to toss her my arm warmers.  They had served their purpose and it was time to be done with them.  Sadly I wouldn’t see her again until the finish.  Evidently, she got messed up with some construction and had to turn around and then the cops wouldn’t let her through, so she ended up going all the way around the opposite side of the lake.  This is really odd since lots of cars were on the course and it was advertised as an “open course”.  It is really annoying that there was an apparent double standard.  So a little frustrated I came through mile 3 in 6:43.  I took water at the aid station and came through the 5k in 21:29.

These next few miles were on a random, hilly country road away from the scenery of the lake and pretty unshaded.  There were two large hills in this mile and per my plan I didn’t push the pace up them.  I tried to just stay relaxed.  I came through mile 4 in 7:18.  I felt ok with that and kept what felt like a steady pace.  There was a few small pockets of people cheering along the way but for the most part it was pretty quiet.  Mile 5 was 7:09.  A little disappointed in two mile over 7 I wasn’t too worried, I figured that it would be easy enough to make up.  As we kept going up and down I decided to take one of my Clif Shot Bloks.  I also took water and Gatorade at the waterstop. We came back out by the main lake and back onto the shoulder of a main road and through mile 6 in 7:32. Ok, now I was a little frustrated and given the plan was to run a faster second half I picked it up.  I came through 10k in 43:38 (my PR is 41:28) and the half way mark in 46:00.  It wasn’t marked so I didn’t know where it was, but that would seem to be right on track for where I wanted to be coming out of the first half.

We continued right next to the lake shore through a little town and my pick-up worked as I ran mile 7 in 6:52.  That was helpful, especially as I was catching up to some people.  More of the same as we kept running next to the lake and I came through mile 8 in 7:02.  I tried to stay focused on pushing the pace a little bit as we dropped down to within several feet of the lake shore for a little bit and then back up a short and steep hill through an aid station.  We were running next to a bike trail then we jumped onto it for a few yards before crossing a timing mat and turning back the way we came and then another turn back towards the lake.  We then hit mile 9 in 7:36.  I came through the 15k in 1:06:04. (My PR is 1:03:24).

As we continued on the lake shore it was almost as if something inside of me fell apart.  It was almost as if I hit a small wall or gotten into a funk.  I took a second shot blok to see if that would help, but the wheels were falling off.  I tried to keep pushing but it was getting harder.  I came through mile 10 in 7:29. I definitely didn’t remember their being so many hills throughout the last half of the race. I was starting to get passed my more and more people now. I came through mile 11 in 7:47.  Crap.  That’s unacceptable.  I remember telling myself I needed to keep it under 8 minute miles. Somewhere along here there was a waterstop – but it was off the course in a parking lot.  I probably should have gone through it but I just wanted to finish and the shorter the course the better. However I did come through mile 12 in 8:03. Yes the wheels were falling off the bus.  My 20k time was 1:30:35.

We turned onto a dirt trail right before the 12 mile mark and I knew this was going to be the way to the finish.  Yes, 1 mile to go pick up the pace a little…  Not happening.  Getting passed by everyone and their brother.  A few runners tried to encourage me and I did try to pick it up I promise. The last mile was a pretty slow uphill grind which wasn’t overly pleasant. As we got closer to the finish you could start to hear people yelling and getting excited.  It was a 6-8 foot wide trail but once we got within the last 1/4 or so it was lined with people on either side – making a lot of noise.  It was a cool tunnel effect.  I could hear someone coming behind me. I tried to open my stride a little.  Then he pulled up into my vision and I thought “I can’t let this happen” and dropped gears and gave it every last ounce.  I pulled away from him and left him in my dust – so to speak!  I came through mile 13 in 7:49 and the last 0.1(or 0.18) in 1:09.  My final time was 1:36:26.  A long ways off my goal, 3 minutes off my PR, and my 4th fastest half-marathon ever.  The course was a little long!

After recovering my breath I shuffled over to get water, Gatorade, and refreshments.  They had quite a spread of fruit, bread, and snacks available.  I found my wife and learned of her plight with the road marshals.  And I just sat down for a little bit.  Exhausted. Frustrated. Disappointed.  It was a pretty tough course though, I will give it that.  And in hindsight – not a PR style course.

As I’ve written this though I’ve realized that I’m in pretty good shape! While none of my splits are super impressive I was pretty consistent throughout the race and even with my wheels falling completely off I didn’t do too terrible!  As of this writing the official results are posted yet – but this is the link they are supposed to be posted at!  The results are posted here (pdf).

As you can see by the chart below – the “official” mile markers were a little bit off.

Split Times
GPS Marked
6:58 6:47
6:56 7:13
6:43 6:43
7:11 7:18
7:09 7:09
7:08 7:32
7:11 6:52
7:10 7:02
7:12 7:36
7:42 7:29
7:42 7:47
7:56 8:03
8:13 8:48
1:09

[tags] Half Marathon, Lake Minnetonka, Race [/tags]

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Week in Review

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Image from stock.xchng.

This is week 3 of both my 100 Push up Challenge and also the Core Performance
book.  I am starting to feel some of the benefits, at least a little! This was a nice short week at work and a wonderful day of giving thanks. It has been a great week!

Monday was my requisite rest day.  I did my push ups completing the required 72 pushups.  After last week’s exhaustion test I’m in the middle column for now.  In regards to the Core workouts, I’ve decided to drop the Movement Prep.  My knee and heel were starting to hurt and I felt like some of the exercises in MP were aggravating those areas, I might try to slowly work them back in later. I did do the Prehab: Core-Hip-Shoulder, and used my Stick instead of a Foam Roller.

Tuesday I was feeling lazy and never made it out the door! No real reason, just lazy.  I did manage to do my core workout though.  Today was a physioball and rope  workout.

Wednesday I did make it outside.  I ran my Metrodome 3 mile loop in 23:36. It was about 19 degrees but the wind was really strong on the one leg and made my hands really cold! I did my required 82 push ups and Prehab:Core and used The Stick.

Thursday Happy Thanksgiving!! Nathan and I did a 1.5 mile warm-up before we ran the Giving Thanks 5k.  I finished in 20:01.  It was a pretty nice morning for a Thanksgiving race! Look forward to a more in-depth review.  I came home and did my core work – physioball and Prehab:Hip.  I’ve stopped doing the Prehab:Shoulder because I think it duplicates some of the push up workout and exhausts my shoulders.

Friday I went out for an easy 3 mile run in my new Mizuno Wave Inspire 4 shoes. My old Mizuno’s have 381 miles on them. This was a pretty uneventful run. I decided to run along the Midtown Greenway, but instead of running on the “Greenway” I ran on the dirt trail that runs alongside the paved one. The two trails are seperated by a fence and the lower is more like a service road type thing.  It was different.  Weather was mid-20’s with some wind making for a decent 23 minute workout.  I did my 88 required push ups and Prehab:Core

Saturday means Polar Bear Run.  This run was fairly close to home and my wife was working again so I didn’t feel like calling anybody for a ride. Instead I biked to the Light Rail station – took the LRT – and biked to the start of the run, this was approximately 2.5 miles on a frigid morning.  Awake and ready to run we ran from Historic Fort Snelling down into Fort Snelling State Park getting in 8.5 miles on mostly soft trails.  The run featured a lot of deer, at least 15.  At least one of which had 10 points.  It was a neat mix of bucks, does, and fawns running around.  Some let us get pretty close, staring us down before leaping away to safety.  I am always amazed that animals kind of know when hunting season is and when they are generally safe.  This was another great run on a sunny day with a thin layer of frost covering everything.

Sunday was a snow covered run along the Minnesota River.  Maybe an inch of snow covered the ground as we headed out along the trail.  We cross the footbridge on Cedar Ave and then headed north to Lyndale Ave all on trails next to the river.  It is a great place to run and the fresh snow covering made for some beautiful sights.  There was plenty of animal tracks – mostly coyote and rabbit. I did see what looked like deer tracks and we saw a bunch of wild turkeys on the drive to the parking spots.  This was about a 9 mile run in 1:18:09.  A few of us had a little sprint finish across the footbridge!

Weekly Mileage:

Running – 28.3 miles

Biking – 23.6 miles

Last Year:

Running – 0 miles

Biking – 20 minutes

Swimming – 1 session

Last year I was analyzing my training cycles. My second cycle was for a 10k.  I ran a 4 mile Drumstick Dash in Indianapolis and posted a guest review for the Harpeth Hills Flying Monkeys Marathon. Also during this week last year Dr Cade, Gatorade Inventor, died at 80.

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Race Review: Rochester Half Marathon

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A picture perfect day for running led to a great performance by almost everyone on my team, including myself.  I’ll break the news early, now middle of the morning text messages here: I set a new PR, but about a minute and a half.  Finally, after 3 years of trying I had a record setting half-marathon race! I almost didn’t go down but I am glad I did.  My time for the 13.1 mile distance was 1:33:22 or 7:08 pace, good enough for 65th overall and 7th in my age group.  All of this took place at the Rochester Half Marathon, in Rochester MN (home of the Mayo Clinic).

Now for all (that I can remember) the details.

Pre-Race I had been up late the 2 nights prior thanks to something called the Olympics, so having to wake up at 4:30am wasn’t easy.  We were carpooling down so I couldn’t be too late.  We arrived in plenty of time and actually by being so early we were able to get registered and use the restrooms before the large crowd came rushing in.  Four of us rode down together and only one had pre-registered.  They didn’t have any t-shirts for race day registrants, but the total fee was only $20 so that is a pretty sweet deal.  We lounged around at the Holiday Inn Express which hosted the race and waited for the other cars to arrive before warming up.  The temperature was maybe 60 degrees at the start with no clouds in the sky and no noticable wind at the start.

Race Time We lined up in the middle of Broadway Ave in  downtown Rochester. I started a little farther forward than I should have, but I also know that sometimes in these smaller races (only 602 finished) that if you get to far back you’ll get stuck in the opening miles.  I also kept telling myself to take it easy at the start and go out slow.  After the race announcements off we went.  We turned down 4th Ave and then turned again into a residential area before hitting the first mile mark.  I felt comfortable and relaxed even as I tried to stay at the back of a small back, then I realized a teammate, Chris Taylor, was running in the pack and his goal was several minutes faster than mine.  So I let the pack go.  We hit the first mile mark in 4:41.  Oh wait that was a marathon later in the evening.  Seriously though I hit the first mile in 6:48.  A little faster than I had hoped but nothing to panic about.  My goal is to break 1:30 which is 6:54 pace.  We continued through the residential area and jumped onto the Bear Creek Trail, a paved bike path which aptly runs along Bear Creek. The trail meanders along the river bank at this point in an open park but soon gets into a great woodsy area.  This shade helps keep the pace moving and I went through mile 2 in 6:53.  Still feeling pretty good I wasn’t worried about the pace.  As we continued to twist through the woods we came to the first water stop around 2.5 miles.  A local Boy Scout Troop did an excellent job with the water and Gatorade.  They had a ton of cups lined up on the ground which would have made a great picture! As we came into the water stop I was at the back of a pack of 6 people, after the stop I was at the front of the pack.  As we continued to meander I made sure to cut the straightest line possible between the turns so as not to add any distance to the run that didn’t need to be there. We continued on the trail through mile 3 in 6:54. Our first 5K was in 21:33. My plan for the marathon is to take at least on Clif Shot Blok every 5K so I did that during this race as well.

In the 4th mile we sadly (?) left the bike path and turned onto Pinewood Rd, a large country road.  I said sadly, because the road had very little shade on it.  There was also very little traffic which was nice, especially considering the fact that we weaved across the road several times.  It seemed everyone was doing this as they were trying to “cut the tangents” but it was a little ridiculous. I lost track of how many times we actually criss-crossed the road. I doubt we saved much time and we came through mile 4 in 6:59. Along this long mostly straight stretch I was passed by several runners who were obviously starting out slow and picking people off.  It also started to feel a little lonely as I was kind of stuck between two groups of runners. The sun was also starting to warm up, though it never really felt hot.  I came through mile 5 in 6:59. The 5 mile mark was at the beginning of the next water stop so I almost missed it.  The group was doing a great job of passing out water and Gatorade and I continued moving along.  This was a pretty lonely stretch of road that was marked by a local radio station’s van blaring both country and rock songs and a lone porta-potty under a highway overpass. Around the porta-pot I started hearing footsteps and a guy caught up to me, we didn’t really chat – but did talk back and forth a little bit.  We were a little suprised we hadn’t seen the leaders yet, but soon enough they started coming back to us.  Right before mile 6 we turned onto a gravel road and started really enjoying the better parts of rural America (read: sweet smells of home – or pig farms!).  The mile marker was on the wrong side of the road and I almost missed it and hit the lap button a few seconds after we passed it.  Mile 6: 7:14.  I ran with this black shirted guy for a little while longer, but he kept a strong pace and I let him go.  I came through this 5K in 21:46 or 43:19 for the 10K.

The race continued on the dirt road and I was now seeing lots of runners who had turned around already.  The turn around was marked by 3 orange cones and a guy saying something like, “slow down and turn around.” I came through the half-way point around 46:44. This also marked the highest point on the course, but it wasn’t all downhill from there.  Now I was seeing large groups of people running towards me as I ran back out of the dirt road. Immediately after the turn around I was hit by a head-wind.  Nothing too hard, but enough to be noticable in your race pace.  I tried not to worry about it and to stay focused.  Two other guys caught up to me and we ran together for awhile. I start to cramp a little bit in here.  It felt like it went across my whole diaphram. I tried not to let it slow me down too much as we ran through mile 7 in 7:07.  As soon as we turned back onto the paved road it seemed to go away – weird.  Our small group continued running together, pushing each other along through mile 8 in 7:14. I think they guys were local because they were getting lots of cheers from the oncoming runners.  We went through the 3rd water stop, this time I took some Gatorade and tried grabbing a water.  The girl wasn’t looking at me and so we weren’t able to make the exchange, but that was fine. As we started heading West again the headwind picked back up and I tucked in behind guy #1 and guy #2 tucked in behind me.  This proved quite fruitful, I know the more proper etiquette would have been to arrange some type of sharing agreement where we’d trade back and forth for the wind breaking duties, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it – so I said nothing.  Meanwhile guy #1 broke wind in more than one sense of the word! Yes, he loudly farted not once, but 2x’s and they both reeked almost making puke.  At the first whiff I quickly pulled out from behind him for a few strides then tucked back in. I guess in some ways, that is justice for drafting! We came through mile 9 in 7:02! This 5K was 22:08 while the overall 15K was 1:05:27.

We continued along Pinewood Rd, this time not switching sides of the road very many times.  To point out how ridiculous it was, right before the turn back onto the bike trail a group in front of us crossed the road and almost immediately crossed back over to our side.  A little silly. I some how missed the 10 mile mark, but according the the mile splits that Garmin is able to reproduce we came through the 10th mile in 6:57. Almost as soon as we turned back onto the bike trail and I no longer needed the wind blocked – but maybe also due to have just run 2 miles at sub-7 min pace I couldn’t stay with guy #1 or #2 anymore and off they went. Now I was alone again meandering through the woods.  The winding trail also made it hard to see where people were in front of me to see how close I was.  I occasionaly caught a glimpse of someone up there.  At the final water stop I again took some Gatorade.  I came through mile 11 in 14:26 WHAT??? Oh yea I missed mile 10! I felt pretty good that I just ran 2 miles under 7:15 pace – not so good according to Garmin because mile 11 was 7:31. I guess I fell off pace quite a bit after the guys left me. At this point it was more of the same from the start, except now in reverse.  I don’t think anyone passed me, nor did I pass anyone during this stretch.  I tried to dig deep for motivation, not really sure where I was at overall pace-wise (I could have just looked at my Garmin and realized where I was, duh!). I came through mile 12 in 7:41. This 5K was 23:08 and through 20K in 1:28:36.

Ok, only a mile to go, suck it up.  You can do this.  We stayed on the bike trail instead of going back on the streets through the residential area.  This made for a few short ups and downs as we went from river level to street level a couple of times – nothing major at all but I felt them a little bit.  I got passed by a group of 3-5 runners which was a little frustrating, especially since I didn’t have enough energy to even try to go with them.  I did pass a guy who was stretching out his leg on the side of the trail.  I felt like I was picking up the pace, but in reality, I was probably just maintaing it. I was finally able to see the finish area! Wait, I started hearing footsteps.  This was the motivation I needed and I picked up the pace a little bit. We came up to the street level and crossed a bridge – there was the crowd and lots of balloons. I hit mile 13 in 7:33. A quick turn and a wide turn and there was the clock.  It said 1:31 something, I got excited and took off.  When I crossed it said 1:32:24, then I looked at my watch and saw 1:33:22.  A little disappointed but knowing either way it was a PR I was excited.  It turns out the clock had stopped earlier and they must have reset it wrong.  My Garmin time ended up being the same as my official chip time (full results).

Post Race As I caught my breath – got the chip removed – and received my finisher’s medal I made my way towards the food and drink.  I took a Gatorade, Water, Orange, and Banana. I would have taken some of the rolls, but my hands were already full.  I caught up with some of my teammates and we chatted and waited for everyone else to come in.  After eating some of the food and stretching I hit up the Kemps Ice Cream truck.  Nothing like a free Orange Cream Bar to help with recovery!  We waited and waited quite awhile for the awards ceremony as several of my teammates got awards.  I also finally met Chad Austin having read his blog for awhile.

Team Round-up: (If I screw this up guys, just remember I’m the New Guy)

  • Kirk Walztoni – 1:15:45 3rd overall and 2nd in his age group plus a PR
  • Paul Lamere – 1:27:06 1st in his age group
  • Chris Taylor – 1:28:11
  • Marty Humphrey – 1:34:31
  • Anne Walztoni – 1:34:43 2nd in her age group (8th overall woman)
  • Deb Humphrey – 1:36:44 3rd in her age group
  • Carolyn Fletcher – 1:42:40 3rd in her age group
  • Ann Choiroloff – 1:43:12

Race pictures are available here.

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Gatorade Inventor Dies at 80

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I interrupt the regularly planned posting schedule for this breaking announcement.

Dr. James Robert Cade died Tuesday of kidney failure, according to ESPN.  Cade was the inventor of the sports drink Gatorade.

Born James Robert Cade in San Antonio on Sept. 26, 1927, Cade, a Navy veteran, graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas.

Cade was appointed an assistant professor in internal medicine at UF [University of Florida] in 1961. He worked until he was 76, retiring in November 2004 from the university, where he taught medicine, saw patients and conducted research.

Cade and his wife, Mary, had six children.

Cade was the first kidney researcher at the University of Florida but is most well-known for researching and creating a re-hydration formula for the UF football team, which they credited for their 1967 Orange Bowl win.

Gatorade which first “tasted like toilet bowl cleaner,” and was vomited by Cade after tasting it, is now sold in 80 countries with 30 flavors available in the US and 50 around the world.  Gatorade has a market share of 81%.  Since 1973 royalties from each purchase of Gatorade have brought $150 million to the University of Florida.  So it could also be called Gator – aid!

Cade was named MIT‘s Inventor of the Week in May 2004.  And at that time was working

… as a professor of medicine and physiology there [UF], conducting research on kidney and liver disease, diabetes, hypertension and other illnesses. He also studies Down syndrome, autism and certain types of schizophrenia and develops diets to help these patients improve or recover. In addition, Cade has developed products similar to Gatorade such as the Go Energy-Recovery Shake, which helps athletes recover more quickly after a workout.

Gatorade’s website made no mention of its founding researcher’s death as of this morning.

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Its a Raging Inferno Outside: Tips to Beat the HEAT

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Its hot outside (maybe an understatement). At noon today its about 85 degrees with a heat index at 92 and 68% humidity! The prediction for today is 98 degrees with heat indexes around 105! The National Weather Service has issued a Heat Advisory for today and also one for tomorrow with predictions for 97 degrees and a similar heat index. UGH!

I guess its time for some hot weather running tips! There is a lot out there about this topic, so here is a compilation of advice from all the running experts and actually Runner’s World did a big feature on this topic in a recent issue.

  1. Hydration is a must! Drink before, during, and after your runs. You can lose between 6-12oz of fluid per 20 minutes of running. Be careful with overhydration, if you are on a long run be sure to include some type of sugar such as Gatorade. A good indication of your fluid intake is your urine color (the darker the less hydrated you are). Also go ahead and pour some water over your body it will help cool you off! Avoid caffeine, alcohol, and carbonated drinks.
  2. Run early, late, and in the shade. I guess running indoors works too, but not an option I really like! Trying to finish your run before the temperatures really start to rise is the best idea, otherwise a late night run is best. Running in the shade and avoiding blacktop surfaces will also help keep you cooler. You can also split up your workout between a morning and night or do some cross training.
  3. Watch your pace – your times might be a little slower than normal, don’t push yourself too hard and be patient. Some would also say to start out a little slower than normal to prevent a serious time drop later in your run.
  4. Wear light-weight, light-colored, and loose clothing with SPF in them. This includes light-colored moisture-wicking socks to help keep your feet cooler. Experts differ on wearing hats and long-sleeved shirts. Depending on your specific case they might be helpful, I doubt in Indiana we need to worry about wearing long-sleeved shirts, but I don’t know about hats. They can provide a needed respite from the sun, but they also hinder the escape of heat from our body. Using a cold, wet, or even frozen bandana wrapped around your neck or head is a good way to keep you cool, but once its lost its cool it might be a hindrance by keeping heat at your body. Wrapping a cold sponge with ice cubes can also be helpful.
  5. Watch for symptoms of heat-related illness:
    1. Leg cramps, dizziness, increased heart rate, headache, and nausea are the initial symptoms of heat exhaustion, which could lead to (possibly fatal) heat stroke. Anyone experiencing these indicators should stop exercising immediately, get to a cool place, and continue to hydrate slowly. If you cannot keep fluids down, go to the emergency room.
    2. Other symptoms include confusion, loss of muscle control, clammy skin, feeling faint.
    3. If you stop sweating, have a throbbing headache or red, hot, dry skin seek immediate medical attention.
  6. Group running is more important so you can keep an eye on each other and provide assistance as needed.
  7. Stay rested – ensure you are getting at least a normal amount if not more sleep.
  8. Stay nourished – it is hard to eat or cook sometimes when it is so hot, but staying properly nourished will help your body fight the heat! Eating things like salad or fruits will help with hydration because of their high water content.

You can’t beat the heat. Nobody can–that is, nobody can race up to their potential in hot conditions. – Truman Clark

Hear is a link about indoor training. Also check out Gatorade’s hydration strategies website.

Sources for today’s post:

Also check out this Indy Star article about hiking (running) trails at Turkey Run State Park.


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